Growing, Soaring, Falling, Burning
by Dogluvertoo
Summary: Earth, air, water, and fire. Rachel, Quinn, Santana, and Brittany learn that they've been blessed with extraordinary powers. When Rachel is kidnapped, will they be able to save her, especially when Quinn is busy trying to solve her own problem? Faberry and Brittana. AU after "On My Way."
1. Chapter 1

A sound of breaking glass and crunching metal; the car was tossed sideways, rolled a few feet, and then stopped. It was all over in less than thirty seconds. Thirty seconds was all it took for Quinn's dreams to be crushed. No more cheerios, no more dancing, no more Yale. No one knew this better than Quinn Fabray. She didn't cry or scream or yell, because she just didn't have the energy. She was slowly suffocating, the weight on her chest getting heavier and heavier each day.

Paralyzed. As in a _wheelchair, _not for a few hours a day, but for like, _forever. _She would never get to cheer with her friends again, or rule the school like she used to, or get another chance for her perfect thing. (Beth wasn't hers. She never was.) _You can still go to Yale, _she was told over and over. Who were they kidding? She could barely _move _without help, how was she supposed to fend for herself in mere months? Everything she had worked for was over. Quinn Fabray had fallen one too many times to get back up again.

It was one of those long days in the hospital in which her mother was working, she was alone and everything hurt but her legs, and hell, that was cruel irony at its worst. At best Quinn was expecting a pity visit from one of the glee kids and something good on TV. At worse she was expecting a meteor to fall on top of her from the sky, because _why the hell not. _She had already experienced pretty much everything _else. _

To say the least, she was surprised when Rachel Berry walked in. Even better, Finn Hudson was noticeably absent from her side.

"Hello, Quinn," she said stiffly, her smile a little too bright.

"Hey, Rachel," Quinn said, sitting up a little straighter. "I'm really glad to see you," and she really, _really_ was.

"I…" she trailed off, and her smile faltered. "Um, mind if I sit down?"

"Yeah, sure," not like Quinn could do anything about it either way.

Rachel settled herself into one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs arranged near Quinn's hospital bed. She took a deep breath and changed her expression so she was looking bright and cheerful again. Quinn would've smiled if she hadn't been having such a crappy month. "So, Quinn," Rachel paused again, and looked towards the floor. Obviously she was having trouble saying whatever she was trying to say, but made another attempt, her smile getting bigger and faker the more she struggled. "Well, I've been wondering if, well, if you've been getting—I mean having—troubles or any, um, _issues_ with the…" by this point Rachel was starting to look like a crazed clown, and Quinn was starting to get annoyed. She wasn't _that _fragile.

"Just spit it out, Rachel. Honestly, I won't get offended."

Rachel sighed again, and abandoned her smile. "I wanted to know if you wanted to talk about what happened."

"No." This response was immediate and final. "My life is over, and no amount of 'talking' is going to help."

Rachel looked even more hopeless, perched in the tiny chair, clutching her purse and trying to come up with a response. "Quinn," she said slowly. Quinn looked away. She didn't want pity talks. She'd had enough of _those _by her third day in the hospital. Why did people insist in trying to cheer her up? Nothing about this situation was okay, and Quinn didn't want anyone pretending it was. "Quinn—_please_, look at me," Rachel begged, her voice catching on the last word. As much as Quinn wanted to be mad at Rachel, she still couldn't stand to see her upset, so she looked back at her. "Quinn, I'm _so sorry_ that I did this to you," seeing that Quinn was about to object, Rachel hurried on. "but you've _always _been able to bounce back after _everything _you've been through. I'm not going to let you act like this forever."

Rachel stood up and started heading towards the exit. She turned around and added, "you're Quinn Fabray, and you're going to _act like it._ I'm not giving up on you."

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"Hey, Britt. Having a good day?" Santana leaned against the lockers next to her girlfriend.

"Yeah, in art we painted. Well, I painted. I don't know what everyone else was doing," Santana was about to respond to this when Brittany added, "Oh! And Coach Sylvester wants to talk to you."

"Really? When did she tell you that?" They didn't have cheerios practice until later on that day.

"She didn't tell me. I just know."

"Okay, thanks for telling me, Britt." Normally, someone might question this, but Santana was used to Brittany's odd comments. She wouldn't even be surprised if Coach Sue _did _want to see her about something.

They both turned their heads when a loud crash was heard down the hallway, and several voices broke out at once.

"What was that?" Brittany asked.

"Some Neanderthals got into a fight, I'm sure," Santana rolled her eyes. This was not rare at McKinley.

"Santana…" Brittany's voice rose in panic as she stared down towards the commotion.

"What is it?"

"I think Quinn's down there," This Santana paid attention to. If _anyone _was acting like a Neanderthal lately, it was Q herself. Yeah, she was stuck in a wheelchair. She was still going to _Yale, _for Christ's sakes. But the way she carried on and on and _on _about how her life was _over_, you'd think she was dying or something. It had been two months since the accident, and although people had been sympathetic at first, by this point everyone was sick of Quinn's "poor me" attitude. Still, Santana didn't want to break up the unholy trinity by getting Quinn killed, she decided to rescue Quinn's paralyzed ass.

"Where, Britt?"

"Down at the other end. By the football player who still wets the bed."

Santana had _no _idea where Brittany had gotten that piece of information, but Quinn wasn't hard to spot in her wheelchair, trying to wheel away from the fight. Santana sprinted down the hallway, stopping only to yell a string of Spanish at some poor hockey player who got shoved into her. Reaching Quinn's chair, she barreled through the crowd, stopping only when they'd reached Brittany.

"Trying to get yourself killed, Q?" Santana asked the scowling blonde.

"I could've handled it." Lately, Quinn had been a real _bitch_ about people trying to help her out with anything. Santana guessed it was a side effect of the chair, but she was really getting sick of it either way.

"Okay, fine. I'll remember that the next time I run through a fistfight to save your sorry ass. C'mon, Britt."

"See you later, Quinn!" Brittany called over her shoulder as the girl rolled away.

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_ "Hmm…the wheelchair girl might be a problem. What do you think?" _

_ "She'll get over it. Water's good with healing."_

_ "True, but the girl was raised on earth."_

_ "Exactly why she'll be good at protecting it when the time comes."_

_ "In a wheelchair?"_

_ "It's not like we have much of a choice. She will be ready to help when we need it."_

_ "What about the fire girl, huh? She looks handy, although she looks like she's gotten a little too used to the earth's customs. Not like the airhead."_

_ "Yes, I've noticed that that one has adapted to earth the least. She's definitely a descendent of the wind."_

_ "Is that good or bad?"_

_ "Could be either. If she were back, she would definitely have a gift. Here—I'm not so sure. She could be a liability in battle. She'd make an excellent sorcerer, though."_

_ "What about earth?"_

_ "I'm not sure. We haven't seen anything besides the usual—strong, dependent, stubborn. We'll have to wait to see where she is at."_

_ "Physically, or mentally?"_

_ "Either."_

_ "So are we going to tell them soon?"_

_ "Yes. It's been a gambit waiting this long. It's a miracle none of them have been attacked yet, even under constant watch. I wanted to wait until they were ready, and now—I think they're as ready as they'll ever be. We shall tell them soon."_

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Santana was in the middle of her math test when she was suddenly jabbed with a pencil. "Brittany," she hissed. "I can't help you right now. Just guess."

"No, it's not that." Brittany said loudly. A few people around them shushed her. Santana glanced towards the teacher's desk nervously. She could _not_ afford to fail another math test. Luckily for her, the teacher was still grading papers.

"What is it?"

"It's Rachel. She's been kidnapped!"

**This is my FIRST glee story, and I'm so excited to see what you think of the first chapter! Some questions will be answered next chapter, but if you haven't guessed yet, the people who kidnapped Rachel are NOT good guys! I will update if and when enough people show interest in the story.**


	2. Chapter 2

**I made a slight mistake in the last chapter by describing Rachel as "dependent" instead of "dependable." There's a pretty big difference between the two. I'm not sure if anyone caught this, but props to you if you did, and I apologize for this error. Enjoy this chapter!**

It had been about a week since Rachel had visited Quinn in the hospital, and it also happened to be the day that Quinn was to return to school.

Rachel was wringing her hands nervously, standing by the school's entrance. It didn't matter that people were looking at her like she was a crazed lunatic, standing in the middle of the entryway, staring intently out the glass doors. She was going to make things right, even if it meant putting her relationship with Finn on the backburner for a while.

Her phone buzzed, and she glanced anxiously at the entrance. No Quinn yet. _Calm down, Rachel. She's not going to disappear into thin air._

**From: Finn**

** Hey. Can we talk im sorry bout our fight?**

_I'm sure you're sorry. _Rachel thought. _Sorry that you got yelled at and probably won't get to make out with me for a few days. But _not_ sorry enough to spell out 'about.' Not to mention that you sent me a text instead of apologizing in person like a gentleman._

**From: Finn**

** I also make up the breast puns u ever seen!**

Rachel actually grimaced at that. "Always the charmer, Finn Hudson," she said to her phone.

"Now what'd Finnessa do?" It was Santana and Brittany, walking through the front door, pinkies linked.

"Oh, _well_," Rachel sighed. She couldn't believe that she had sunk as low as to vent her relationship problems to Santana, of all people. "He's mad that we called off the wedding. We're also still having issues with our conflicting post-McKinley plans. But I'm sure we'll work it out. We've made it through worse."

"Berry," Santana said with all seriousness. "I'm not sure _what_ that boy's going to have to do for you to see the obvious. Finn's a douche. He cheated on Quinn when she was still pregnant with _his baby_," Rachel opened her mouth to apologize for that, because _God_, she was such at awful person. She kissed a guy whose girlfriend was pregnant, and then later on that pregnant girlfriend got paralyzed heading to their wedding. "Rachel, _stop._ If we went through every bad thing _Quinn_ did, or believe it or not every bad thing _I've _done, we'd both sound like soulless baby killers too."

This was already turning out to be a weird day. Santana Lopez was _comforting _her—well, sort of. Rachel didn't feel much better, but it was a well-meaning comment from _Santana Lopez._ Rachel would take it. "Thank you, Santana."

"Yeah, yeah." Santana rolled her eyes. "_Anyway_. Finn's gone from girl to girl to girl over and over again in the past few years. Were you surprised when he immediately went after Quinn after breaking up with you? Were you surprised when he broke up with Quinn months after _that_?" Rachel couldn't even respond to that. "That's what I thought." Santana continued. "Do you want to be married with children with that man and have him cheat on you?"

"No," Rachel mumbled. She had to at least try to defend her finance, though. "But he hasn't done that recently—"

"What do you mean by recently? A _year_? It hasn't even been that long. And what about your dreams? Those dreams that one short year ago, were still very much alive? Are you going to give all those up for a guy? A guy that hasn't even treated you well over the past few years?" Santana swung her backpack over her shoulder in a sign of finality and added, "I expected _much more_ from the Rachel Berry I knew."

"Are dreams really worth losing true love?" This wasn't rhetorical; it wasn't something Rachel was adding to the debate. It was an actual question that she had been asking herself for months now.

"Rachel, whatever _Finchel_," Santana wrinkled her nose, "is, it is not true love."

Rachel started to protest, but Santana started up again. "For God's sakes, Rachel. Choose Puck. Choose Jesse. _Choose Quinn_," Rachel's breath caught on the last name, and she couldn't help but look away. "But don't waste your time with Finn unless you're sure that he's who you want. And right now, it doesn't look like you are." Santana started walking away, but Brittany remained in her same spot.

"Hey, Rachel," Brittany whispered.

"Yes, Brittany?" Rachel asked. By this point she had nearly forgotten her search for Quinn, she was in such deep thought.

Brittany leaned closely as if she was telling a big secret. "I think you should choose Quinn. Quinn thinks so too. I can tell by the way her color changes when you're in the room."

Rachel wasn't sure what to say to this, but regardless she was still touched by Brittany's concern. "Thank you, Brittany. I'll be sure to consider Quinn's—um, _color_ in my decision."

Brittany looked satisfied and walked away to join Santana.

Rachel sighed, and stared at a piece of gum stuck to someone's locker. She would work out her relationship with Finn. Just not right now.

"Hi, Rachel." Rachel looked down. It was Quinn, wheeling towards her with a small smile on her face.

"Quinn!" Rachel said loudly, her face lighting up. She didn't care that people were staring, because guess what? Quinn was alive, and she was back at school and _her color changed_ when Rachel was in the room. "I missed you so much!"

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**Present Time**

"Brit," Santana whispered. "You're confused. You're probably just daydreaming again."

"No!" Brittany insisted. "I saw it! A man in dark clothing grabbed her, and at first I thought that he was hugging her, but he wasn't! I could feel her, she was the same color Lord Tubbington is whenever he sees a dog!"

** "**Maybe Lord Tubbington _likes_ dogs," Santana pointed out, rolling her eyes. It was easier giving Brittany this than questioning anything else that she had said.

"No!" Brittany stood up suddenly, her chair crashing to the floor. By this point she had everyone's attention in the room.

_Well that's just _great_._ Abandoning her math test, (she hadn't been doing that well anyway) Santana just focused on trying to calm her girlfriend down. It was rare that Brittany got herself this worked up, even with her vivid imagination. "Britt, calm down. I'm sure Rachel's fine. We would've heard something by now if someone were sneaking around the school kidnapping students." Why would anyone want _Rachel_, of all people, anyway? As far as Santana knew, her parents weren't rich or anything, plus Rachel was so _loud_ it wouldn't be worth it anyway. She'd drive any kidnappers crazy within a day.

"No," Brittany whispered. Her fists were clenched at her side, and her blue eyes gazed into Santana's desperately. "Please, San. I just _know_."

_Jesus. _Santana really needed to get Brittany some sunglasses, because soon she was going to lose her reputation as a badass. "Fine, Britt. We'll go find Rachel." She stood up, handed her unfinished math test to her teacher wordlessly, and followed her girlfriend out the door.

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Quinn sighed. Why finish her chemistry assignment? It's not like she was going anywhere after high school anyway. She was going to stay in Lima for the rest of her life, unmarried, eating Spaghetti-O's out of the can and playing checkers with her mother every night. And Quinn didn't even _like_ checkers.

"Has anyone seen Rachel?" The plump Ms. Briggs struggled out of her chair, looking around the classroom through her spectacles. "It's not like Ms. Berry to miss—well, _ever_." Quinn had wondered that too—Rachel _was_ her chem partner, after all. She had just assumed Rachel was off doing something for Mr. Schue, since Nationals was coming up. She didn't offer up this information to the teacher, and instead got back to pretending to work on the chemistry assignment.

"Hey, Ms. Big—" Everyone looked up to see Santana Lopez, standing next to a visibly upset Brittany. Quinn resisted the urge to roll her eyes. What was wrong with Brittany now? It wasn't like _she_ was going to be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of her life…

The teacher frowned. "Ms. _Briggs,_ Ms. Lopez—"

"Sorry, Ms. Briggs," The lack of sarcasm in her voice caught Quinn's attention. Something must really be wrong for Santana to be trying to be nice to a teacher.

"Well? What do you need?" Ms. Briggs asked, the whole class watching the exchange.

"Coach Sylvester wants to see Quinn. Immediately." What would Coach Sue, or more accurately _Santana_, want with her? Quinn wasn't stupid; Coach Sylvester rarely pulled cheerios out of class that weren't the head cheerleader. Santana was up to something, and it damn well better be important. Couldn't she see Quinn was in the middle of her chemistry assignment?

Ms. Briggs looked cautiously at Santana, as if waiting for her to explode or shout "JUST KIDDING!" After Santana had passed whatever test the teacher had just put her through, Ms. Briggs nodded in Quinn's direction. "You may go, Ms. Fabray. Just finish the assignment at home."

After wheeling herself out into the hallway, Quinn didn't even bother to check to see if her class was still listening before saying, "What do you want, Santana?"

"Quinn!" Brittany said urgently. "It's Rachel! We can't find her _anywhere. _Neither Mr. Schue, Finn, or Kurt has seen her and she obviously wasn't in class! She's been kidnapped!"

This was a little unsettling, but Quinn turned to the more reliable source of information before letting herself panic. "Santana?"

"It's true, Q. Brittany had this weird…_vision_ I guess, in math of some guy kidnapping Rachel and we've looked everywhere for her. I think she may be in real trouble."

"Well, what do you want _me_ to do about it?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Q, you guys are like, _tight._ I'm surprised you haven't made out yet, but not really because you've really been no fun lately. Although," she pondered, "Berry's really no fun either. So I guess you guys are a perfect match now."

Quinn ignored this last statement. "Well? What are we going to do about it?"

"Well, I guess I could take care of Finncompetent and you could hire a choir and declare your love for her—"

She gritted her teeth. "_Not that_," she hissed. "What are we going to do about Rachel?"

"I thought we just established that you need to get your lady balls together—"

"Santana!" This time the brunette was interrupted by her girlfriend. "This is not a joking matter! Rachel needs our help."

Santana sighed. "You're right. Sorry, Brittany."

"So?" Quinn continued. "Do we go to the police?"

"The police!" Santana scoffed. "The Lima Police are _awful. _I should know. My uncle's on the force."

"So what exactly do you plan on doing?" Quinn was starting to get frustrated by the lack of answers, and if it hadn't been Rachel in trouble, she would have seriously considered turning around and going right back to chemistry.

"I can see her trail." Both girls turned in Brittany's direction.

"You can _see_ it?" Quinn asked.

"Yep. Right there," Brittany pointed to an invisible trail leading down the hallway and out the south doors. "She's golden like both of you, but her golden is more golden-y pink. Santana's more of a red golden, and Quinn's is sort of an aquamarine—"

"Britt, I really appreciate the effort, but I don't think imaginary pink trails are going to help us find Rachel," Quinn told Brittany. She didn't want to hurt her friend's feelings, but _seriously. _This was getting them nowhere.

Santana narrowed her eyes. "Listen here, Q. I get that your legs are worthless now and your secret lover has been kidnapped. That does _not_ give you an excuse to mock _my_ girlfriend who is just trying to _help_. And if that means seeing magical pink trails—"

"You're both wrong," Brittany interrupted.

"About what, Britt?"

"The trail is golden. With a little pink. And it's not magical, I can see it right there."

"Honey," Santana looked cautiously at her girlfriend. "Quinn and I are having a little trouble seeing Rachel's trail. Could you tell us how you're seeing it?"

Brittany shrugged. "It's like how I saw that Rachel was scared when the big man hugged her."

Santana turned to Quinn, smirking. "That's _right._ I almost forgot that Brittany here was the one who _saw_ the Hobbit getting taken. That proves that we should follow Britt."

Quinn sighed. All this bickering was getting them nowhere, and for all she knew, Rachel was getting farther and farther away. At least this was a place to start. "Okay, Britt. We'll follow your lead."

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They had been wandering through town for nearly an hour, which was no easy task considering Quinn's chair, and even Santana was starting to doubt her girlfriend's "gift." Not that she was giving Quinn the satisfaction of knowing this, because Santana had been defending Brittany for nearly forty minutes now. Still, if Berry really was in serious trouble, now was not the time to be killing precious time by humoring her (cute, but still a bit on the dull side) girlfriend.

"Britt, maybe we should talk to the police now. I'm not sure the trail is working anymore."

Brittany glanced back at Santana, who was currently struggling to push Quinn's wheelchair up a very steep sidewalk. "Yes it is. It's still bright too, which means she was here just a little while ago."

_Thank God Quinn is letting me handle this. _Santana thought. The last thing she wanted right now was to upset Brittany further. A pissed-off Quinn wouldn't do much good either. "Brittany, what I'm trying to say is that maybe," Santana paused, trying to choose a tactic. "maybe the bad guys are too fast for us. We need to go find the police, because their cars are _really _fast. Remember when Lord Tubbington got stuck in a tree?"

Brittany stopped right in her tracks, and Santana had to really dig her heels in to stop the wheelchair from careening right into her. "Britt," Santana gritted her teeth, struggling to hold the wheelchair still on the steep path.

"Santana, Quinn, someone is coming to help us! It'll all be okay!" Brittany sounded so sure of this that Santana almost didn't want to burst her bubble.

"Brittany, how do you know this?" Quinn obviously didn't care about bursting Brittany's bubble. Still, Santana didn't hold it against her; it was _her girlfriend_ that was missing.

"I can see them coming! Don't worry guys, they're friends, trust me. They're like, our _cousins_ or something!"

"Cousins?" Santana wasn't too sure about what was happening, but she sure as hell didn't like the sound of it.

"Look, guys! They're they are!" Brittany turned around with the biggest smile, nearly squealing in childish delight and Santana forced herself to look at what Britt was pointing out. A large black car with tinted windows was approaching quickly, and it slowed down as it approached the three girls.

Santana may have been from Lima Heights Adjacent, but she still found herself panicking. Okay, Quinn was pretty useless in this situation. In fact, she was more than useless. Santana was struggling just to keep Quinn from taking a one-way ticket down the hill to _death._ And since Britt was convinced that these guys were her _cousins_ or something, that crossed her off the list too. That left Santana—as badass as she was—to fend off however many _cousins_ were in the car by herself, with two other girls to protect.

Their chances were not looking good. The car full on stopped next to the threesome, leaving Santana about three seconds (possibly less) to get them the hell out of there.

"Britt," she said urgently, "I need you to get on Quinn's lap, and I'll hang on to the back, and then once we get to the bottom we'll make a run for that gas station back there—"

"Santana," Brittany looked at her like she was a class-a dumbass. "These are our friends."

Santana was still trying to get Britt to get on the freaking wheelchair when the tinted window of the car rolled down and Santana nearly gasped when she saw the familiar face. She really did gasp when she saw the second face, and Quinn did too—but Brittany stood there grinning. "I told you guys! See—cousins!" And although Santana wouldn't call them _cousins_, well, she definitely wasn't as afraid of them as had been moments before.

"Why don't you three get in the car, and we'll have a little talk about how to save your friend."

**And another chapter done! Thank you all for your lovely reviews and story alerts. I might even update again later this week, since I'll be on vacation next week and unable to update. This was a sort of a filler chapter, but I ended up liking all the Fabrittana scenes. Surly Quinn and Insightful Brittany are always fun to write, and Santana is so funny that she needed no improvement. Anyway, PLEASE leave a review. It means so much to me, even if it's something like "PLZ UPDATE" or "SHORT CHAP NEED MORE!" Even (constructive) criticism is nice to receive. Please leave your thoughts they make me update faster! **

**PS-Expect some actual answers next chapter! I was going to include them in this one but this chapter is already much longer than I usually write, and so they ended up getting postponed. Also coming up, hopefully next chapter is Rachel's point of view in captivity.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Nightlancer600: ****Thanks! And hopefully this chapter helps you better understand where the story is going :D**

**Sillystarshine: ****Thank you, your sweetness is much appreciated!**

**Vampire-BlackRose****: You are CORRECT, as you will find out in this chapter! YAY!**

**Guest****- Thanks for your review! You're right, I looked back at the characters and they aren't showing much emotion… :/ I struggle getting emotion across in a third-person perspective, but I did the best that I could in this chapter.**

**Shakespearewrote:**** Aww…thanks! I love Avatar too! :) **

**Also special thanks to SweeTarts151, Guest, and Twi-Ranger for being my FIRST reviewers!**

**Thanks to everyone that story alerted and favorited this story too! **

**Quick note****- Pay attention to the flashback in this chapter, it ends up being important! (Believe it or not, this story is actually going somewhere!) Also, I am having a "choose your own adventure" of sorts. Read the chapter and then see the bottom AN for details.**

"You!" Quinn stammered. "And—and _you_!"

The first person sitting in the car looked surprised to be called out. "_What_?"

"You visited the glee club. And now you're hanging out with…Sue? In a dark black car? During the _school day_? Don't you both have jobs or something?" Santana had managed to collect her thoughts better than Quinn, who was still gaping at the two people, but she was still as surprised as her friend was.

"We have no time for this nonsense," Sue said, gesturing towards Bryan Ryan and the three girls.

"What did _I_ do?" He asked, obviously offended.

Sue pinched the bridge of her nose, and looked at them all like they were total dumbasses. "Not you. I meant that we could hold introductions until these three _get in the van_." This last command was snapped in the girls' direction, and none of them hesitated to climb in, even Quinn. A wheelchair ramp was conveniently placed at the door's opening as if the two teachers had been waiting for them.

"Now that we're all situated," Sue began, glancing around at all the faces surrounding her. Somehow the interior of the car had been conveniently arranged in a way that the seats were all facing each other, leaving a small empty space for Quinn to wheel over to. Santana had no clue who the hell was driving this thing, but decided not to ask. Sue was annoyed enough as it was. "It's time we begin Mission: Save the Vacuum."

"Vacuum?" Bryan Ryan asked. "Is that the earth girl—"

"I told you not to mention that until you let me explain!" Sue snapped at him.

"Who's the vacuum?" Santana asked, ignoring the coach's obvious foul mood. "Is that Berry?"

"You're right, I'm losing my touch. Maybe she could be Squirrel? Squirrels are pretty loud…" she looked around the car desperately for backup, and then sighed again. "Things were bad enough as they were—" Sue looked genuinely concerned, and it was the first time Santana had actually felt bad for her. Whatever was going on, it certainly wasn't good. "—And now _I'm _losing it. What has this world come to?" Santana refrained from rolling her eyes. "The missing girl is 'vacuum' because of her volume." Sue explained to her teammates.

"Ohhhhh." Santana said from her spot next to Brittany. "I thought it was because she sucked the life out of everyone surrounding her." She looked up to a car full of annoyed faces. "But, you know, she is pretty loud too. The whole loud thing works too."

Brittany chose this time to chime in, "See, guys? Cousins!" She grinned blindly at Bryan Ryan and Sue.

"Britt, you were right. We do know these people. That doesn't make them our _cousins_." Santana again resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Obviously no one else was jumping in to explain to Brittany what a cousin was.

Brittany's smile shrank. "Santana—they're golden _too_." Santana had no idea what this meant, so she ignored it and turned back to Sue, the unofficial leader of the gathering.

"But aren't you both supposed to be working right now?" Santana had already asked this, but she hadn't been answered and thought it was a good place to start the conversation.

"Like Sue Sylvester would spend her life training _cheerleaders_." Her nose crinkled in disgust. "Bunch of skinny little nobodys." She glanced over the three girls, two of whom were wearing cheerleading uniforms, and the other who had one stashed in her closet at home. "No offense."

This did not clear up _any_ questions, but before Santana could ask another Quinn beat her to it. "So if you don't spend your days training cheerleaders, what _do_ you do?"

To the surprise of everyone in the car, Brittany was the one who answered. "Santana, I already _told_ you. She's golden, like us, remember?"

Santana did remember something about how the three of them (plus Rachel) had "golden trails" but she had no idea what _that_ meant. The four of them had absolutely nothing in common besides glee club, and Quinn and Brittany didn't really care about it the same way Santana and Rachel did. Brittany, Quinn, and Santana were all on cheerios, but Rachel had about zero interest in _that_. "I'm a little confused, Britt. What does it mean to have a golden trail?"

Sue jumped in before Brittany could explain. "If you're all _done_," she said, giving pointed looks to both Santana and Bryan Ryan. "I think this is a good time for me to explain what is going on and why Vacuum has been kidnapped." She paused, and this was the first time in the conversation that Sue looked at a loss for words. By the time she had finally begun talking, the car was dead silent and she had everyone's attention. "And I also need to explain why you three are the ones who need to go get her."

RQ-SB-RQ-SB

Rachel had been having a pretty good day—until she was kidnapped, that is. But that wasn't for a few hours to come, and right now she was still having a pretty good day. She was walking down the hall with Mercedes, who was venting about some of her relationship drama. It wasn't like Rachel didn't care; she was happy for her friend, she really was. Mercedes had _finally_ gotten a boyfriend, and he was a guy that she really liked. And yeah, it was awful that another guy had waited right until she had finally gotten a boyfriend to decide that he _also_ liked her. But it was right after fourth period, and that meant that Rachel was scanning the halls for Quinn to take her to lunch. That _also_ meant that Mercedes' boy drama wasn't on the top of Rachel's priorities right now.

"Rach?" It was Mercedes.

"Hmmm?" Rachel mumbled, scanning the hallways.

"You're not listening, are you?" Rachel groaned inwardly. The last thing she wanted right now was to get Mercedes upset at her, especially since the two had been so close the year before.

Rachel smiled sheepishly towards her friend. "Sorry, Mercedes. Please, don't take it as a sign of lack of interest, because I really—"

Mercedes shrugged. "Nah. I'm not taking it personally. Besides, I think you need to go get your girl."

Right ahead of the two, a grumpy-faced Quinn appeared, being accompanied by an amused Sam. "I'm fully capable of pushing myself around, Sam."

"I know you are. It's just funny to watch you get all crabby and uptight about it," He grinned at Rachel. "What do you say, switch?"

Rachel gladly agreed; she took Quinn's chair from Sam and continued pushing it down the hallway, after saying her goodbyes to Mercedes. Mercedes joined the blonde boy, and the two started walking the opposite direction.

"I didn't know you and Sam were still friends," Rachel tried to sound perky, but failed. All of a sudden her good day didn't look so good anymore.

"Yeah. We have been ever since I helped him out a little last year." Quinn paused, and then finished, "Sam's a great guy. Mercedes is lucky."

Rachel pressed her lips together, glad that Quinn couldn't see her expression from the chair. She continued walking towards Quinn's locker, but finally said, "I didn't know you felt that way about him."

Quinn contemplated the statement for a few seconds, and at first Rachel was afraid that she had come on too strong, until Quinn responded, "He forgave me after I cheated on him. He didn't owe me anything, but he gave me that. It meant a lot to me last year, because I didn't have any friends. I had abandoned Mercedes and Kurt for popularity; I'd fought with Santana for the lead cheerleader spot, and lost both her and Brittany. Finn didn't really care about me, I didn't have you yet—" Rachel's breath caught in her throat, "—and so he was really my only friend last year. Even this year, when I was acting completely _nuts_, he still emailed and called when he was in Kentucky. Even when—" Quinn stopped, and Rachel could hear her breath hitch from her spot behind her. "Even when Beth came back, and I was calling him at two in the morning, sobbing into the phone, completely incomprehensible, he listened to me and he took the time to calm me down and cheer me up. I owe a lot to Sam."

"Would you rather I go back and get him, then?" Rachel snapped, and immediately regretted it. What was wrong with her? Quinn and Santana were the ones who spoke without thinking, not clear, put-together Rachel. _Am I…_jealous_?_ Rachel wondered. _No, of course not. Why on earth would I be jealous of my friend's ex-boyfriend? _Unless…._no_. Not possible. That was for Santana, and Brittany, and Kurt, and Blaine, and Rachel's dads…she supported them, but that didn't mean that…_no_. Maybe she had feelings for Sam? She pictured blond, smiling Sam. She liked him, yes. But only as a friend.

And then there was also the matter that Quinn had gone totally silent since Rachel's outburst. Rachel could worry about whatever _that_ had been later. Struggling to put together an apology in her head, Rachel forced out, "I—I didn't mean…_that_ at all. Well, maybe—maybe a _little_, but I really didn't mean to…"

"Rachel, it's fine. You're allowed to get stressed-out once in a while. It's actually really nice of you to even still be friends with me-" Rachel was about to object (really, this mopey behavior had gone on long enough) when her phone went off loudly in her bag, silencing both girls.

Rachel continued pushing Quinn's chair with one hand, while fishing her phone out with the other. "Who was that?" Quinn asked. Rachel's hand clawed around the inside of the bag fruitlessly. Maybe she had put it in one of the outside pockets? She pulled her hand out and started digging around in a different compartment. "Rachel?" Nope. Not in there either. "Rachel, who was that?" Rachel started a new compartment. "Rachel?" Quinn was getting louder and louder by the second, and Rachel still hadn't found the damn phone.

"Quinn, _I_ don't even know who it was yet. Be patient." Obviously patience wasn't Quinn's strong suit. Rachel's hand finally closed around the missing phone, and she yanked it out of the bag. By this point she was wishing that she'd just put the darn thing on vibrate.

**From: Finn**

**Hey rach wanna sit w me today**

"Rachel?" Quinn asked warily.

"Quinn, I'll tell you who it was in just a second."

"No, I mean we just passed my locker," Rachel pulled the chair to a screeching halt and swung it around, barely avoiding a group of freshman boys.

"Jesus, Rachel," Quinn mumbled. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

"Sorry," Rachel smoothly glided the wheelchair up to Quinn's locker. "I got a little distracted, I guess."

"By who?" Rachel should've known Quinn wouldn't give up that easy. "By Finn." Rachel tried to be nonchalant about her answer, but Quinn swerved the chair and twisted in her seat to face her.

"What'd he want?"

Rachel sighed. She didn't _want_ Quinn getting involved in her love life, but truthfully it had been the first day all week that Quinn had talked about something besides the accident. Rachel wasn't about to pass up that opportunity. "He just wanted to know if we would like to eat lunch with him today," Rachel forcefully turned the chair back towards the locker, knowing that it would irritate Quinn.

Quinn snorted and turned herself back around. "So? Are we sitting with him?" Quinn's voice betrayed her—Rachel knew exactly what Quinn wanted. She was making Rachel choose.

Rachel swallowed. Despite doubts about her relationship with Finn, Quinn was not going to _make_ her do anything, wheelchair or not. Finn didn't own Rachel, and neither did Quinn. Rachel stood a little taller. "Do you want to?" She challenged.

"No." The answer was honest and immediate. It hid none of Quinn's dislike for Finn.

"Well, okay. You're my friend, and I'm going to sit with you," Quinn put on a triumphant grin, but Rachel wasn't finished. "But Finn is my fiancée, and you're going to put up with it whether you like it or not. Now, put your books away and let's get to lunch before it's over, please."

Surprising even Rachel, Quinn did what she asked. Rachel sent a reply to Finn, saying thank you, but no, she wanted to sit with Quinn today. Quinn waited until they were continuing towards the lunchroom before pulling Rachel back into the conversation with, "I don't even know what you see in him."

Rachel resisted the urge to sigh. She had known that this conversation wasn't over. "Well, you dated him twice. We even fought over him, what did you see in him?"

Quinn didn't miss a beat. "I saw all the popularity the first time we were together. It used to mean everything to me." That didn't shock Rachel, but she didn't expect what came next. "The second time I dated him, it was more about me trying to get my old life back. I had lost everything, and now that I had a chance to get it all back, I took it. It was so nice," Rachel was paying close attention by now, "when he started flirting with me, even when I was with Sam. It was weird, but nice. During the whole duration of our relationship in sophomore year, he was always looking at someone else. All I wanted was for him to pay attention to _me—_why wasn't I enough? And then all of a sudden he was there, and he was paying attention to me, not anyone else. I guess the temptation was too much to resist."

Rachel was surprised, to say the least. This was the most Quinn had opened up to her…_ever_, maybe. And it had been about Finn Hudson, of all things, the one guy that they had fought over time and time again. And Cheerleader Quinn Fabray—bright, blonde, and completely _perfect_—had been insecure at one time. _Well of course she was, _Rachel answered herself. Did she really expect Quinn, the girl who got pregnant at 15, to be perfect? It still surprised her that Quinn had been threatened by her relationship with Finn. At the time, that was everything Rachel wanted. She had honestly, truly _wanted _to make her tormentor to feel bad, to feel jealous. She didn't want that anymore.

She cleared her throat. Quinn had given her an honest answer, and she was going to give her one back. "I was miserable throughout junior high, and my first year of high school was exactly the same. No one liked me; I had no friends. My dads always told me it was because I was different, because I was special. And I did feel different, just not in a good way. I was tormented every day, and I just wanted _someone_ to look past what everyone else saw, and see…" They had reached the cafeteria, and Rachel was about to enter when Quinn braked the wheelchair, turned it around and waited for Rachel to continue. "I wanted someone to see the real me."

Quinn opened her mouth as if to say something, and then closed it. Rachel could almost hear what Quinn was trying to say—"_Come on, finish up. You have my full attention."_

"And then Finn Hudson, the quarterback, started paying attention to me. He was popular, he was dating _you._ You were my…" Rachel stopped when she saw Quinn's expression, and worded it differently. "We weren't friends. Let's just put it that way." Quinn's guilty expression subsided and she waited patiently for Rachel to continue. "It felt like Finn was the one who finally saw me."

It was silent between the two for a few moments. "Was he?" Quinn whispered.

Rachel closed her eyes. "Yes." She said softly. The answer sounded uncertain, even to her.

"Then why don't you go sit with _him_." Quinn spat. Rachel's eyes flew open to see Quinn wheeling in the opposite direction.

"Quinn!" Rachel chased after her, and caught up quickly. "What did I do?" She begged. The moment had felt so real, so deep. It had been destroyed in a manner of seconds, and Rachel was left wondering what she had done wrong.

Quinn's eyes wouldn't meet hers. "He—he _sees_ you. I don't. I don't think we can be friends, Rachel." Quinn scrubbed at her eyes with her hands. Was she…crying? "We've been fighting for too long to ever be friends."

Quinn started rolling away again, and this time Rachel didn't have the heart to follow her. Was Quinn getting feelings for Finn again? Was that what it was?

_That conversation was a mistake from the start. Maybe the friendship was, too._

"Quinn—"

SB-RQ-SB-RQ

"Have you heard of the four elements?"

"What like the periodic table?" Santana rolled her eyes. "Because no matter how much anyone tries to convince me, I refuse to believe that science exists in real life."

"Like earth, air, fire, and water?" Quinn guessed, ignoring Santana.

"Exactly." Sue said, shooting a glance at Mr. Ryan. "And let me explain this first, before you jump in like we all know you will. Now," She said, this time addressing the three girls, "once upon a time, in a time far, far ago—"

"Like when _you_ were born," Bryan added coyly from her side.

Sue turned back to him. "Unless you want me to throw you out of a moving vehicle, I suggest you shut your tiny little trap." He sat back against the seat, folded his arms and did as he was told.

"As I was saying, a long time ago, there used to be people blessed with specific…_powers._ This power was beyond anything any of your tiny brains can imagine, and at first the people were able to live happily together. Now—get it into your heads that earth was a _very different_ place back then. The earth back then and the earth now are very different things—got that, Boobs McGee?" Santana nodded without any of her usual attitude. Sue had gotten Santana and Quinn's attention, and Brittany just looked bored, as if she were attending a lecture that she had already heard. "Back then, magic—yes magic, little Miss-I-Believe-In-An-Invisible-Carpenter-In-The-Sky—magic was thought to stem from the earth itself. There were magical animals, magical _people_, and this magic was something that anyone could have access to. And then there were the Earthshapers.

"Well, eventually human beings started fighting over the power, and so one day the first Earthshaper appeared out of the sky. No one knew where she had come from, but one day she was nonexistent and then next she was there, with full powers and ready to defend the earth. Over time, more Earthshapers showed up. They came out of lakes, out of fires, even out of the ground like fresh corpses. Well, one day humans got tired of having to answer to these all-powerful beings, and that's when they started hunting the Earthshapers.

"But couldn't they defend themselves?" Quinn interrupted. "You just said that they were more powerful than the humans."

"Yes, they could _defend themselves._ As you _should_ have figured out by now, these guys were the most powerful things on _earth. _But as you have seen evidence of here on this earth, humans don't like to play fair. They waited until an Earthshaper's back was turned; they killed them in their _sleep_. It was like a sick game to them, and so eventually, there were few Earthshapers left, and the ones that were left went into hiding.

"That's awful." Santana said. She felt sick to her stomach just thinking about it… "But what does it have to do with us?"

Sue sighed in defeat. "All right. Go." She instructed to her partner, who sat up triumphantly.

"Well, the ones that _were_ still alive after the rest, you know, were killed, they pretended to be average humans. And what do average humans do? They _breed_, if you know what I mean."

"Quinn knows all about that!" Brittany offered.

"Oh, please. I'm the one that gave birth but if it weren't for a little something called birth control I think we all know who'd end up being the master breeders here—"

"Enough," Sue ended the conversation, giving Quinn the evil eye.

"Well," Bryan Ryan said, ignoring the argument, "they had kids, right? So those kids each got a fraction of the power their parents did. Eventually the humans figured it out, but by that time it was too late. The Earthshapers' posterity passed off as humans more easily than their powerful ancestors, and their powers were much more deeply hidden. So the Earthshapers are, in a way, still alive today. The few that are still living work to do the jobs of their ancestors, but—" Bryan Ryan looked strangely burnt out, as if just mentioning this fact drained his energy, "—as you can see, we're failing."

"So, what? Berry was kidnapped because she had some freaky ancestors?" Santana gaped. "All this…weird history stuff has to sound weird even to you."

"It's weird, but it's true, Lopez." Sue told her, glancing outside the window. This time addressing Bryan Ryan she said, "And you might wanna hurry up, we're almost there."

"Almost _where_?"

Both adults ignored this, and Bryan continued. "Not just the one girl. All of you are descendants from the Earthshapers."

This took a few seconds to sink in for Quinn and Santana, but when it did, both girls started speaking at once.

"Wha—"

"No way is this—"

"Quiet!" All heads, even Sue's which had been previously occupied looking out the window, turned towards the sudden outburst from _Brittany_, who was sitting there grinning like the Cheshire cat. "Tell them!"

Quinn wasn't sure how she felt about whatever it was she was about to hear, but her first instinct was _run_, which of course she couldn't do since she was stuck in a moving vehicle with two of her best friends, and well, she was paralyzed from the waist down. So instead she asked tentatively, "Tell us what?"

Bryan and Sue exchanged glances. "Each of the Earthshapers was given a specific gift with one of the four elements,"

"So we're going to get gift baskets?" Santana asked sarcastically.

"As in, each Earthshaper has a power with a specific element. Earth. Fire. Water. Air."

"So? What are we?" Santana was getting impatient with all of this information.

"I'm air!" Brittany exclaimed, her smile growing with pride. Santana leaned in close to her girlfriend and clasped her hand.

"Brittany is air," Bryan confirmed. "It's odd—her powers are the closest to the original Earthshapers that I've ever seen. She's very powerful spiritually, but her physical powers have yet to show themselves." He looked straight at Brittany with a dead-serious look on his face. "You will be the one to lead them to the missing girl, and if necessary, send messages to her."

"Wait, so can Brittany talk to birds or something?" Quinn asked. It was a serious question, but Sue scoffed as if she was being childish.

"Of course not!"

Quinn scowled. "Well, how can she send messages, then?"

Bryan Ryan jumped in before Sue could. "She can send messages through the wind. The wind carries things, and not just dirt and leaves. It carries pictures, thoughts. Brittany probably knows some weird things about people, right? And she might say odd things sometimes, but it's because she's _seen_ those things. Brittany will be your eyes throughout your mission."

Santana leaned back in her seat. _Mission? _God, less than a year ago she was busy pretending to be in love with _Dave Karofsky. _She wasn't ready to go on some crazy-ass mission whether Brittany had weird powers or not. And what if they got attacked like Rachel had? Brittany may have powers, but she would still be pretty useless in that situation. And what about Quinn? Quinn was in a _wheelchair _for God's sakes.

_Quinn… _Santana looked over to Quinn, who was sitting on Brittany's other side. She looked calm, composed, in check. Her eyes were staring straight ahead at the car door. She looked deep in thought, but she obviously wasn't freaking out like Santana was.

Although Quinn had _looked_ calm and composed last year, and that was before her major meltdown earlier this year. Maybe Quinn wasn't the best example. Santana turned to Brittany, who was bouncing up and down with excitement. Santana realized that Brittany had _known_ about all of this earlier—this wasn't her first time learning that she had magical powers like Santana and Quinn. Santana looked at the floor. Whether she was ready or not, she was going to have to deal with this alone.

"Now, Santana. Have you had any…odd experiences before?" Bryan Ryan raised an eyebrow, as if Santana hadn't caught what he was getting at. _Yeah, I get it. Have I had a weird day and thought to myself, 'you know what? I think I may have gazillion-year-old magical powers that came from the earth!'_

"Yeah, odd like I found a twenty-dollar bill on the ground. Not _magical_ weird."

"That's perfectly normal. But, Sue _has_ been watching you closely for the last four years, and she's positive that you are a fire Earthshaper descendent."

Jeez. If Santana had taken the time to think about it, she probably would have guessed that she was fire. Now that she heard it out loud she was still surprised. She remained silent, but looked up toward Bryan Ryan as he explained.

"The element fire is known for being courageous. Fire can be extremely dangerous when it wants to be, but this benefits any Earthshapers with the gift. You will excel when it comes to battle, particularly when you learn to fight with fire."

"I can do that?" Hell yeah. If only Lauren Zizes could see her now…

"Yep," He snapped his fingers and a spark of flame shot up. He grinned at her. "I'm a fire Earthshaper too."

Sue started coughing dramatically. "I _told_ you to wait until we got there to do that!"

Bryan Ryan's grin dissolved, and he put his ultra-serious face back on. "Your job during the mission will be to get the group past any obstacles that you face—" He exchanged a glance with Sue, "—particularly any _living_ obstacles."

Before giving Santana a chance to process this, he began with Quinn. "Your gift is with water." Quinn had to admit she was disappointed. She was hoping for fire too—water was worthless. It just _sat_ there. Yeah, controlling it would be pretty cool, but not as cool as fire. Water wouldn't help them do anything on their "mission." She could just imagine Bryan Ryan: '_Your job will be to pack snacks and rub Santana The Warrior and Brittany The Wise's feet after a day of saving your life.' _

Santana apparently agreed. She cracked a smile, and said, "Ha! Fire's _much_ cooler than water."

This set Sue off, and even Santana looked a little scared. One second Sue was sitting there, looking bored, and the next she was pounding her fist on the car door and giving Santana a death glare. "_I_ am also a water Earthshaper, and I could kick Skippy here's ass any day—"Bryan Ryan let out an undignified grunt, "—water is _just _as important as fire, if not _more_. I am proud that _my _element at least got a girl with real hair. It's no wonder that Quinn reminded me of a young Sue Sylvester even before I knew of her talent—she's got enough sense to keep her trap _shut._" Santana was smart enough to nod before she pissed Sue off anymore than she already had.

Mr. Ryan continued on as if there had been no interruption, which he was getting good at by that point. "Water has several uses. It also is an asset in battle, particularly in defensive strategies. Water Earthshapers also have been known to use their gifts for healing. Your job will be to be prepared to help defend your group in battle, as well as to heal anyone in your group if the need arises."

"Mr. Ryan," Quinn sat up suddenly. "What about Rachel? Why did these people go after her instead of us?"

"Yeah," Santana chimed in, almost sounding serious. "We all know that nobody would want _Berry_ with us cool studs around."

Brittany giggled. "_Studs._ You sound like Puck."

"Well," Mr. Ryan answered, as Sue was busy trying to murder Santana with her eyes, "Rachel happens to be an earth Earthshaper. And Earthies, well, they've been pretty rare over the last few centuries. Right now, just as humans are destroying the earth, we really could use some more of them. I'm guessing whoever took her decided that they could use one too."

Sue scoffed from her place beside him. "'_Whoever_ took her.' Yeah, like just _anybody_ would mess with an Earthshaper under the watch of Sue Sylvester."

"So you know who did it?"

"Of course we know who did it. But that will have to wait for tomorrow." Coach Sylvester quickly dismissed the question and went back to staring out the window in disinterest.

"I'll tell you all a little more about earth Earthshapers before you leave. It might come in handy." Bryan Ryan took back control of the conversation.

"So," Santana asked. "When are we leaving?"

"Within a few weeks. We'd like to prepare you—"

"No." This came from Quinn, who everyone turned to. "We are leaving tonight."

"Don't be stupid, Q." Sue said, rolling her eyes as if that was _exactly_ what Quinn was. "You're not just parading off into the jungle until we prepare you."

Quinn refused to budge. "What about Rachel? It sounds like these people, whoever they are, are powerful enough to take on Rachel. And she doesn't even know _why_ these people took her."

"Rachel really stands no chance." Santana agreed. "We have to leave sooner than that."

Bryan Ryan glanced anxiously at Sue. "Maybe you could leave in a week. We still have to prepare you—"

"I'll give you one day. The day after tomorrow, I'm leaving and nobody's going to stop me." Quinn said with a note of finality.

Brittany raised her hand as if they were still at school. "I have a question," she said, releasing the obvious tension between the other four.

"Yes, Brittany?"

"Well, we're gold right?" Without waiting for confirmation, she continued. "Well, what about the silver trails in the glee club?"

"You're right, Brittany. Someone else you know does have magical properties, but that's a story for another day." Bryan told her casually, as if it was everyday that Brittany discovered a magical person.

Sue turned and examined Quinn and Brittany closely. "Well?" She barked, as if unsatisfied with their responses.

"What?" Santana demanded.

Sue looked nearly flabbergasted with rage, her face quickly turning red like a tomato. "Don't you understand how _rare_ this is? Earthshapers are rare enough as it is, but four of you, the same age, born in the same town, one of each kind of Earthshaper?" Quinn and Santana just stared at her, and Sue nearly exploded with fury, "Or is this what happens to you everyday? Do you not _appreciate_ how hard it was for Mr. Ryan and I to completely uproot our lives to watch over _you?_" It was the first time in the entire conversation that Sue had referred to her partner by his actual name, and even Santana had to respect that.

"We're sorry, Coach Sue. We're just in shock, that's all." Even Sue looked slightly surprised by Santana's response. She turned back towards the window once again and started mumbling under her breath.

The car rumbled to a stop, and everyone took a moment to peer out at the surroundings. "Well—" Bryan Ryan's cocky grin returned as he opened the door. "Welcome to the Lima, Ohio Earthshaper Headquarters!"

**First of all, LONGEST CHAPTER EVER. I'm so happy it's finally finished!**

**I'm not really happy with this chapter, even after editing it numerous times. Eventually I figured out that it's because this chapter is ALL FILLER. And well, I kind of hate writing PURE filler. But it was necessary, and so I powered through and got most of the entire story's filler done in one chapter. Whew!**

**Also, Brittany and Bryan Ryan mentioned that (a) member(s) of the glee club also have magical abilities. (Although for anyone who misunderstood, these people will not be Earthshapers or be as powerful as Earthshapers.) I happened to come across this idea at about 3 AM, and at the time it felt completely ingenious. But, you know, plenty of things feel ingenious at 3 AM. SO I would like to know how many people a)don't even care and don't want the subject to be mentioned again b)are curious to know who also has magical powers but don't care enough to know anything else about it or c)would LOVE to see other members of the glee club involved in the story. Also, for anyone that DOES care about this plot, I am very open to suggestions about WHO you would like to see, although I already have a few ideas of my own. (If this little plotline ends up going anywhere in the first place.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, YES, this does have some more filler in it, but it was more fun to write and (hopefully) will be more fun to read than the last. It's good that I've finished it though, because I'm sooo excited to finish writing the next chapter! It has a lot more action in it and will be super exciting! See the bottom for a slight preview…**

Piling out of the car, the first thing the girls saw was a teeny-tiny little house that looked like it belonged to the seven dwarfs. Based on the cool car, Quinn had kind of assumed that whatever the "Lima, Ohio Earthshaper Headquarters" was, it would be better than _this._ The house looked to be only one story, and was encased in peeling mustard-yellow paint. A dirty white fence, broken or breaking in a lot of places, was all that prevented anyone from marching right up to the front door and looking into the building…or well, _shack_ really. Quinn quickly came to the conclusion that they were completely doomed.

She exchanged a look with Santana, who looked more annoyed than anything. Quinn could practically hear what was going on in her head: _Someone finally appreciates me for what I'm worth, and then they take me to a dirty little house the color of piss._

Bryan Ryan glanced back gleefully every few seconds, as if taking in their reaction. Brittany was the only one who looked excited, hopping up and down on her toes; even Sue looked bored. "C'mon, Skippy. We _obviously_ don't have time to kill admiring your pitiful little project."

Bryan, not looking the least bit dejected, led the way up to the front door. Sue followed him, and Brittany ran at the tail. Santana and Quinn remained, staring at the pathetic little place where they would be prepared to fight whatever the hell was out there to get to Rachel. They were both silent. They had just found out that they had magical superpowers and were supposed to go save their friend from someone _else_ with magical superpowers. Whoever that person was at least knew what they were doing. Quinn didn't have a clue how to heal anyone, or to fight. She was in a _wheelchair_, for God's sakes. She was pretty much useless in any situation; powers or not.

Santana chose exactly the wrong moment to grab the back of Quinn's wheelchair and start helping her towards the others. She wasn't annoying Quinn intentionally, but it still managed to strike a nerve. In a moment of pure aggravation, Quinn grabbed her wheels and twisted violently in her seat as the wheelchair was still moving. The chair swerved, lost its balance, and nearly threw Quinn from her seat if Santana hadn't managed to catch the stumbling chair in time. The incident was over in less than twenty seconds, but it left both girls startled and steaming.

"Why the _hell_ did you do that, Q?" Santana barked, not caring where the others were and if they were watching. "Are you trying to kill yourself? I was just trying to help."

Quinn, her heart still hammering from nearly getting tossed through the air, gained composure and swung around to face Santana, who had remained behind her. "I can handle my own chair, Santana. You didn't need to do that." She practiced her best glare.

"Oh, please, Q. What didn't I need to do? Save you from dying?"

Quinn's glare deepened. "I would've been _fine_." She grit her teeth and clutched the sides of her wheelchair tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"You know what? I am _sick_ of you being such a _bitch_, Q." Even Santana was surprised to hear this coming out of her mouth. She nearly stopped when she saw the look on Quinn's face, but her fury got the best of her. Words kept spilling out of her mouth, getting faster and angrier by the second. Santana had helped Quinn through this whole thing, and she hadn't even gotten a thank you from the girl. What did she get? She got glared at, yelled at, and about zero appreciation for all she had sacrificed. "I have been putting up with this for _months_, and you know what? I'm _done._ Wheel yourself over a cliff for all I care." She snapped. "I bet _this_ is why Rachel chose Finn over you."

Tears pooled in Quinn's eyes, and she scrubbed at them with her hands. She wasn't going to give Santana the satisfaction of knowing that her words had had the effect on her that they did. Instead she wheeled towards the staring people on the front step, leaving Santana still fuming. The worst part about it was that Quinn knew every word Santana had said was completely true.

RQ-SB-RQ-SB

Rachel continued on her way to chemistry, dreading seeing Quinn. She took her time, just hoping to spot Mercedes or Kurt or even Finn along the way. She could use an excuse to be late for class today. Sighing, she reached the chemistry room and peered inside anxiously. There Quinn was, staring at the desk with a scowl on her face, doing nothing to hide her unhappiness. Rachel, after a moment's contemplation, turned right around and walked the other direction. Now that she thought about it, she really could use the restroom.

Just as she was washing her hands, the bell rang, signaling the beginning of class. Rachel sighed again. Her classroom was all the way down the hall, not only would she be marked tardy (there went her perfect attendance record) but also she was bound to be caught by a teacher on the way down and given a detention. Rachel cursed herself for not just facing Quinn. What was she even afraid of, anyway? Their encounter might be awkward, but Quinn had already ended the friendship. It wasn't like anything _really _bad could happen. The really bad part was already over.

Rachel forced herself out the doors. _Really, Rachel. This behavior is just strange. Just pretend you're a sophomore again…Quinn hated you then, too. _

Just before she reached her classroom, her prayers were answered when Mr. Schue came bounding around the corner. "Rachel!"

Her face lit up. Just what she needed! Maybe Mr. Schue could excuse her too, and her attendance record could remain intact. "Hello, Mr.—"

He gasped for breath and interrupted her greeting. "Rachel, I need you to"—she suddenly noticed that his eyes were bloodshot and wide, and there was something off about the color too—"come with me. It's a glee emergency."

"Mr. Schue, are you feeling okay? Maybe you should lie down." She suggested, staring at his eyes, trying to pinpoint what might be wrong. The last thing they needed was their director to get sick right before nationals.

"Rachel, didn't you hear me?" He outright ignored her. "It's a glee club emergency!"

Rachel followed him down the hallway, giving thanks silently for this excuse to leave class and avoid Quinn. "Mr. Schue, maybe when we're done you could walk me back to chemistry and explain to Ms. Briggs—"

"C'mon, Rachel," He beckoned. He was already far ahead of her, and he actually looked alarmed about something. It was the first time Rachel had actually considered that something might be seriously wrong.

"What happened? What's the emergency?" Her thoughts immediately jumped to Quinn, but she shook the idea off. She had just barely _seen_ Quinn. Quinn was fine. But, still, of all the members of the club Quinn was the one who had the catastrophic experiences. You couldn't really blame Rachel for jumping to conclusions.

They reached the choir room, but for some reason it was really dark inside and she could barely see what was happening. She looked around nervously for Mr. Schue, and finally spotted him in the middle of the room, just staring at her with those weird eyes. Her heart hammered in her chest, and she felt around in her bag for her pepper spray while keeping her eyes towards her teacher. Mr. Schue had seemed like such a good man, but you could never really tell for sure.

The door slammed shut loudly from behind her. Rachel twisted her neck around, trying to see. This situation was going downhill quickly. Who was in the room with them? Her eyes swam through the darkness, looking desperately for a target. She tried to find her voice, but it seemed to have evaporated. She needed to scream…or find her pepper spray, or run. Rachel couldn't do anything, she was petrified to the spot, feeling smaller than ever in the darkness.

Where was Mr. Schue? He had disappeared from his place in the room. Rachel backed into a corner, trying to gain the courage to run towards the door. Why was it so dark? Where was her pepper spray? Had she gotten it out of her bag yet, or—

The room spun, threw Rachel forward, and then went black.

RQ-SB-RQ-SB

The five gathered in awkward silence; the only one oblivious to the tension in the room was Sue. She was all business, herding them through the house. Through the tears in her eyes, Quinn saw quick glances of ugly carpet and outdated, dirty furniture as they passed through the house. It looked like it had been abandoned sometime in the 1970's. Nothing looked the slightest bit like anything they could use for training.

Brittany slowed down a bit to walk next to Quinn's wheelchair, and without looking at her, reached down and clasped her hand. The gesture surprised Quinn; Brittany was usually only this physical (okay, bad choice of words) with Santana. Quinn was touched by the act, and so she struggled to wheel her chair forward with only one hand while still holding Brittany's. Wordlessly, Santana moved behind her to push the chair. Quinn looked back at her in surprise, and their eyes met. Quinn was the first to look away.

_Santana feels sorry for what she called you. _It was like Brittany was whispering right into Quinn's ear, and yet she was still walking, her eyes forward. Quinn guessed that _this_ was the message thing that they had been talking about. She tried to shrug it off, after all, this wasn't the strangest thing that had happened to her today. Nonetheless she was still a little shaken up by the weird form of communication. She got even more wary of it when Brittany air-spoke, _And you're sorry too. I know you are._ Brittany's tone wasn't accusing, but it made Quinn's chest swell with guilt anyway. Who was she to treat her friends this way? Who was she to treat _Rachel_ the way she had treated her earlier that day? And now Rachel was gone—kidnapped by some crazy bad guy that Quinn, Santana, and Brittany were supposed to save her from. Yeah. That'd work. Quinn pushed Rachel to the back of her mind. That was the _last_ thing she wanted to think about right now.

"Hey, Mr. Bryan?" This was Santana, breaking the heavy silence.

"Yeah?" He asked from the front of the group as they continued through the little shack. (Which, now that Quinn thought about it, was bigger than it looked from the outside.

"What about our parents?" Quinn hadn't thought about this. Yeah, she and her mom had their setbacks. But they were working on it. Judy had even started trying to quit drinking, and she was getting close. Quinn thought guiltily of her mother, spending quite a bit of money supporting Quinn after her accident. They had insurance, but the deductible was pretty big, not to mention some of the things the insurance didn't cover. Like the special van Judy had bought just for Quinn after the little red bug had gotten totaled. The wheelchair-accessible van that Judy picked Quinn up from school in everyday. The van that Judy had been sitting in for—Quinn glanced at her watch—twenty minutes now. She wondered if her mother had started to worry yet…maybe gone into the school to look for her? They had left in the middle of sixth period…had anyone noticed their absence yet?

Quinn shook it off, and pushed that thought away too. That was another thing that she didn't want to think about right now.

Sue answered the question for Bryan. "It doesn't matter right now. They'll probably assume that you four ditched school together for at least a few more hours…after that the police will be contacted."

"Can't I at least tell my mom where I'm going?" Santana asked. Quinn felt bad for her; she knew how close Santana was to both her parents, but especially her mother. By now Santana's mother would be at least concerned; Santana always told her where she was. (She just wasn't always 100% truthful about it.)

Sue actually laughed out loud; it sounded more like a dog barking than a laugh. "Like that'll even _matter _if you don't come back. Let's just focus on Mission: Save the Vacuum."

Bryan Ryan stopped suddenly and Sue nearly crashed into him. "Watch where you're going!" She spat.

He ignored her, much to her displeasure. He grinned widely, and stepped aside, revealing a door. "_This_ is the hall closet!" He announced proudly.

Everybody just stared at him, but it did nothing to dim his enthusiasm.

"But I'veturned it into the Lima, Ohio Earthshaper Headquarters!" He swung it open dramatically, revealing a set of metal steps leading down towards a large room. Quinn's jaw dropped open. She had _definitely_ underestimated the little building.

She suddenly snapped her jaw closed. She had just realized something; those were _steps_. As in, she couldn't go down them, and _nobody_ was going to carry her down there. She folded her hands together, scowled, and prepared for a major argument that would involve punching and screaming if necessary.

"And for Miss Fabray—" Bryan Ryan gestured toward the door on the next wall, and opened it theatrically, "a ramp. Newly installed."

Quinn refused to let up her scowl, and instead began her descend into the Earthshaper Headquarters, ignoring the four pairs of eyes following her. They weren't the only ones with magical powers, and she wasn't going to be babied because of her disability. Quinn Fabray still had _some_ dignity left.

All thoughts subsided by the time she had reached the large room, because _wow._ Obviously she hadn't gotten a very good look at it from upstairs, because, well, _wow._ Various weapons, some of which Quinn couldn't even place, were stacked against one wall proudly. A large swimming pool took up an entire corner of the room, thrashing and spitting out water as if it was alive. She shivered a little bit, knowing that she would probably be going in at some point, but stopped herself. She could handle a bit of water. Against the next wall sat computers and other impressive-looking technical equipment. Quinn wondered why Earthshapers, the people whose "magic comes from the earth itself" would need computers. The most normal looking part of the room—a small kitchen hosting a stove, microwave, and refrigerator, as well as a few rickety stools sitting against the counter—took up the least space. Several doors led to other unknown places, probably equally as interesting as this room.

Quinn had been so absorbed in looking at the room that she hadn't noticed the arrival of the others. Sue, before giving the others any time to observe their new surroundings, led the way to one of the doors, this one right next to the kitchen. She turned around and tapped her foot. "Well? Are you just going to stare, or are we going to get to business here?" She said impatiently. Bryan Ryan was quick to follow, with Brittany skipping afterwards.

"C'mon, guys! This next room's _so _cool!" She gushed, smiling with excitement. It suddenly occurred to Quinn how odd a transformation this was from hours earlier…had Brittany already forgotten about Rachel?

"Britt…how's Rach doing?" She tried to sound nonchalant about her question, but Santana smirked from beside her.

"Already using the air girl to stalk your girlfriend?" Santana asked. Quinn would've smiled if she hadn't been preoccupied worrying about Rachel. The comment was a sign of unofficial agreement—Santana would drop it and forget about their fight if Quinn would.

"Oh, she's confused. And she's either really hungry or scared. I always get those two confused. But she's okay." Quinn took a deep breath. Rachel was okay—for now. She felt guilty for not asking earlier, but at least the news from Brittany was good. Quinn was sure Brittany would've said something earlier if Rachel was in trouble.

The three entered the room, and once again Quinn was taken aback by what it held. Books were stacked at least thirty feet high, and in the very center of the room sat a circular wooden table covered in maps and other official-looking papers. Quinn wondered what they were doing in here, but decided not to ask. Mr. Ryan was staring anxiously in the direction of Sue, who was mumbling under her breath and running about from shelf to shelf, shuffling through the books until she found whatever she was looking for, then moving on to the next shelf.

They all gravitated towards the wooden table in the center, and Bryan Ryan started clearing away the papers already on top. He wasn't quite fast enough for Coach Sylvester, who swept away the remaining books with one hand while piling the ones in her arms onto the table.

"Let's start with the beginning." She fished through her stack until she pulled out a map of what looked like the earth, only instead of countries and cities it had odd forests and rivers that as far as Quinn knew, didn't even exist. "The Earthshaper world still exists. It just hides itself in the corners of today's earth. This map explains exactly where everything is—" She pointed to the place where Ohio would be, if it was marked. "This is where we are now. And—Brittany?" She gestured towards the map, and Brittany got a distant look on her face. At first Quinn was a little concerned, but then Brittany came back and pointed to a spot on the map. Sue continued with, "And _that_ is where the Vacuum is. You'll have to go on foot, and the fastest way to get there is to go straight through the Rising Woods." Sue gestured towards another spot on the map, and Quinn struggled to keep up. "These are also known as Fang Woods. I suppose you'll find out why when you get there."

Quinn's eyes worked their way through the map, when she spotted something, a small, blue circle labeled _Healing Sanctuary_. The place immediately caught Quinn's interest. "Wait," She interrupted Sue in the middle of a speech about the Rising Woods. "What's that?" She pointed to the shape.

Sue shot Quinn a look, obviously for interrupting her but then shook her head and answered, "It's the Healing Sanctuary. Can't you read?"

"No, I mean, what is the Healing Sanctuary?"

Sue snapped her fingers in the general direction of Bryan Ryan, who took it as a sign to bolt to the nearest bookshelf and haul out a particularly thick book. He slammed it onto the desk, and Sue opened it and jabbed her finger at a particular picture without a word.

Quinn's breath caught in her throat. It was a crystal blue pool of water that looked completely undisturbed. No leaves floated in its waves; no dirt or mud had managed to penetrate its surface. Several fountains flowed into the pool, but no ripples or splashes showed sign of the two waterways joining. It gave the pool an appearance of having arms reaching towards the sky. Surrounding the pond was soft green grass that grew right up to the water, but then stopped as if sensing that this was something holy that was to be left undisturbed. Tall green trees that showed no signs of mortality stretched towards the heavens; leafy canopies covered the sanctuary, giving it a soft green glow. Cracks between the leaves left drops of sunlight on the ground.

The oddest thing about the sanctuary was the water itself. It the semi-darkness, the thing that immediately caught Quinn's eye was the colors dancing in the little pool, despite the fact that no waves or ripples were visible. The pool shone like a candle, leaking colorful light all over the area. It was in that moment that Quinn realized the sanctuary's true purpose from the water. She had once heard of the Fountain of Youth in a book of hers, a fountain that would take away signs of age and replenish the youth that most people craved. This Healing Sanctuary reminded Quinn of that, only a thousand times better. Without anyone saying anything, Quinn _knew_ this pool could take away the wheelchair. Everything that she had hoped for just a few months ago was suddenly _possible_ again. Her heart hammered at the thought. Dare she even hope? Maybe…just maybe…when the chair was gone…

"_No_, Q." Sue snapped the book shut. "And I mean it. I refuse to let you girls go galloping off into the pools of happiness while Vacuum is in custody. _No._"

Quinn remained silent, but scowled sulkily. She tuned out during the rest of the explanations, letting Santana or Brittany (hopefully _someone_) listen instead.

RQ-SB-RQ-SB

Later that night, Quinn shifted uncomfortably in a cot next to Brittany. "Hey, Britt? I was wondering if you'd—"

Santana shushed her from across the room. "She's asleep!" Sure enough, when Quinn listened hard enough, she could hear the softest of snores coming from Brittany's bed. "I _promise_, Rachel's fine."

Quinn tried to roll over on the small mattress, but failed. She might've tried harder if Santana wasn't in the room, but wasn't willing to risk any more of her pride at the moment. After finishing up with the maps and eating a quick dinner, the girls were sent off to bed with the promise of having to wake up early tomorrow to begin training. It was bad enough when Quinn learned that they would be sleeping in the _pantry_, curled up next to all the boxed meals in a room that smelled like cardboard. (Was she really supposed to believe in the entire Earthshapers Headquarters, there wasn't a _single_ guest bedroom or something for them to sleep in?) Then she was forcibly lifted onto her cot by Sue and Santana, just like she was just a tiny weakling.

"Hey, Q?"

Quinn refused to even turn in Santana's direction. Her pride was still hurt from earlier that day. "What?"

"You weren't _really_ thinking of leaving us to go to the fountain thing, right?" Santana's voice held the slightest amount of hurt, as if she was offended that Quinn would think of betraying them.

Quinn's voice wobbled, and even though she could feel Santana's eyes on her, she couldn't meet them. "Of course not."

**Sorry for the long wait! It's not going to be NEARLY as long this time, I promise. More Rachel coming up soon! I'm sorry for the lack of her, but she's going to be **_**heavily **_**present in the next chapter, I promise! Also, I would love to hit 20+ reviews this chapter. Send me your thoughts? Please?**


	5. Chapter 5

**BellaDora Soulmates****- Don't worry, they're will be plenty of drama with Rachel! She's in some serious trouble and in this chapter and next you'll see why! I'm so happy you took time to read and review my story, and your lovely review means so much to me. Thank you.**

**TessaDK****- Thanks for commenting on the whole Schue thing! I was really hoping someone would catch that. Next chapter, you'll see what Schue was up to… Thank you so much for your review.**

**Alex sweets****- Yeah, I like me some Finn-bashing too! **high five** And I'm sooo happy you commented on me putting Bryan Ryan in too! I mostly just included him because I love NPH and I wanted to have people that the girls knew and trusted. Your review means so much to me.**

**Sweetlove14****- Aww, thanks! And haha, Rachel was deemed "vacuum" by Sue because of her loudness. (Not one of Sue's best, I'm going to say.) Thanks sooo much for you review!**

**And here's the reviews from the third chapter, since I forgot to answer them last chapter! ******Facepalms********

**Ghostperfect****—Thanks for voting! (I'm so happy that you were interested enough to vote!) And actually, at least one of the people you voted for will be showing up soon! (Keep reading and reviewing to find out!) Thanks soo much for being my first chapter 3 review!**

**Diana****—Again, thanks sooo much for voting for my lame little poll! And actually, one of the people you voted for worked their way into this chapter (mwah haha) but you need to read to see! And at least one of the other people will soon be included….keep reading to see! Your review was so nice, and I could tell you actually took a second to think about it, which made me happy.**

**Lisa****—Thanks for the review! And keep reading to see what happens with this story…**

**Nightlancer 600****—I've seen you before, no? Thanks for being a constant reviewer to my story! It's so nice to see old friends reviewing! And I'm glad somebody has been liking the backstories, I've tried hard to think through what I wanted to do with them and where they're going. (Somewhere interesting, I promise!) Thanks so much for being a multiple reviewer! Woo!**

**JLP****—Thanks, hon! :') I'm glad you're enjoying it. Your review means a lot to me, since it does take some time to write this little story! It's sweet people like you that keep me writing!**

The room contorted into all sorts of odd shapes in her sleep; it grew to jaw-dropping heights, and then shrank until it was strangling her. She dream-saw herself falling, falling…getting crushed by the darkness surrounding her, her screams getting caught in her throat…Quinn, where was Quinn? "Help," she croaked. There was laughing, the demons were laughing at her…their laughs ate at her skin, clawed through her flesh until she was dead, never to see Quinn again…

Rachel sat up, suddenly aware of her surroundings. She rubbed her head, trying to work through her skull-splitting headache to make sense of where she was and what had happened…

_Mr. Schue_. But where had he gone? Rachel was alone in this window-less room, and as far as she could tell, she had been the only one in there in a while. The walls and floor were a cold, gray concrete, the only thing disturbing the dull gray was the metal door. Rachel leaned her aching body against the wall, shivering against the chill. She was in the same clothes she had been wearing earlier, though she had no idea how long it'd been. Rachel grimaced, remembering the hours of nightmares she had faced, though she actually had no idea how long she'd been in that feverish state.

Did anyone know where she had gone? Surely someone had seen Mr. Schuester sneak her out of the school…or maybe she was still in the school? Though Rachel had never seen a room anything like _this_ is William McKinley High School. And what the hell did he want with _her_? Sure, she _was _talented, but how could encasing her in a concrete room help him at all?

Her head hurt. Her chest ached. And she was _so _thirsty. Rachel felt a sudden pang in her chest for Quinn, despite her anger at the girl. She shook it off quickly. _I must still be a little feverish. _She thought.

Rachel peered through a few small cracks in the hard floor. Was there anything down there that could help her? She tried to jam her fingers into the tiny cracks, feeling more hopeless by the second. After a few fruitless attempts, Rachel felt tears building up in her eyes. _Get it together, Rachel. Did you really expect that to work? _

She buried her head into her freezing hands and sobbed, really sobbed. Never had she felt so hopeless, never had she regretted all the selfish things she'd done in her life. She wished she could go back and give a few of her solos away. She'd take _anything _over this.

By the time she was done, she wasn't feeling any better. She sniffled a few more times and glared at the door. Damn that door. She stared at the hard floor, and silently cursed at the concrete too. Just as Rachel was about to cuss at the stupid tiny cracks that held false hope, she froze.

Somehow, those tiny cracks no longer seemed quite as bad. For peeking up from those little cracks, holding as much hope and light as sun beams, were a few tiny green shoots of plants.

SB-RQ-SB-RQ

"And so the training begins." Sue announced in her no-nonsense style. Quinn grimaced and tried to shade her eyes from the bright light. What _time_ was it?

"C'mon, babies. We don't have time to waste." Quinn forced herself to sit up, suddenly not minding the uncomfortable little cot. Sue crossed the room and hauled her into the wheelchair, and Quinn managed the tiniest of smiles towards the coach. At least Brittany and Santana were too busy groaning due to the early wake-up to see Quinn getting helped into the stupid wheelchair.

Bryan Ryan poked his head into the room, hammering his head on the doorframe on the way in. "Ouch," he mumbled, rubbing his head with one hand while the other was firmly clamped over his eyes. "Everyone decent?" He asked.

"Keep your pants on, Skippy," Sue answered. "Everyone's fine."

His eyes popped open, wide with excitement. "Someone's here to see you."

The three girls followed the two adults sleepily, rubbing sleep out of their eyes as they stumbled through the rooms. Even Brittany was lacking her usual perkiness. Quinn glanced at her watch; it was barely after four in the morning. _Good God._

They reentered the main room, the swimming pool still spitting and the computers still beeping. It held a new inhabitant, a man who was facing the computers in a way where they couldn't see his face. Brittany was the first to realize who it was; she gasped and ran towards the man, spinning him around and engulfing him in a hug.

It was Mike! Even Quinn, who barely knew him, was excited. She was surprised by how much of a relief the familiar face was. Just yesterday, everything was normal. She felt a stab in her heart when she remembered the fight she'd had with Rachel, but wedged the unpleasant thought into a corner of her mind.

They approached the computers, Santana silently fuming with Brittany's reaction, and Quinn just happy to see a glee club member that _wasn't_ magical. Or was he? Questions swam through her mind, but she ignored them for now.

Mike scrambled to close the window he had open on the computer, but failed to do it fast enough. Quinn saw the article anyway: _Four McKinley Students Reported Missing. The Police Have No Leads. _Underneath were two pictures, one of Brittany, Santana, and Quinn in cheerleading uniforms, (_Thank God that was taken before the wheelchair_.) and one of Rachel. Quinn's chest tightened seeing the beautiful face.

"Chang, what are you doing here?" Santana asked coldly.

"I've been an intern for about," he glanced at Sue, "two years?" The coach nodded. "I found out accidently when Bryan Ryan visited the glee club. He left some papers on the piano that _definitely _had nothing to do with show choir."

Mr. Ryan looked abashed. Sue muttered under her breath, "stupid, _stupid._"

"And so you've been here ever since?" Quinn asked.

Mike grinned. "Yep. I still love to dance, but ever since I found out about this, I knew I wanted to help however I could." His grin evaporated, and he looked pitifully at Quinn. "I heard about Rachel. You doing okay?"

Quinn glowered at him. "Why does _everybody_ keep asking that? I'm _fine._ It's not like we were dating or anything."

Mike shrugged. "Sorry I asked."

RQ-SB-RQ-SB

Quinn stood up from her vanity, running her fingers through her long hair. Did she need more makeup? She felt disgusted by her thoughts. Ever since she'd gotten back together with Finn that was the only thing on her mind. _Just show up and look pretty. You don't care about _them. _They don't care about you either._

Once she was satisfied with her appearance, she grabbed her keys and headed towards the door. As she pulled the door open, about to head out for one of Berry's "emergency glee club meetings," she walked smack-dab into something. _Ouch. _Something _hard._

She glanced down at her feet to the source. _Berry. _Quinn sighed loudly. "What do you want _now_? I already went to your stupid nose appointment with you, and I _swear_ I wasn't going to skip your glee meeting—"

Rachel scrambled to her feet, dusting off her reindeer sweater. "Oh Quinn, that wasn't it at all!" Her brown eyes met Quinn's own, and Quinn felt bad for acting annoyed.

"What is it then, Rachel?"

"Well, Mercedes called earlier today and informed me that she had a dentist appointment, and then Mike had to rush off to something with Coach Sylvestor of all people, and so I called Kurt and we agreed that due to the circumstances—"

"Spit it _out,_ Rachel."

"Well, the glee meeting is cancelled. Mike is our strongest dancer, and Mercedes, while a bit sloppy vocally, undeniably is one of our most powerful.." Rachel trailed off after seeing Quinn's face. "So I was wondering if, well…" for the first time in the conversation, Rachel stopped talking. Blushing furiously, she quickly finished with, "if you wanted to go out to eat with me!" Rachel glanced up and Quinn, and then added, "Of course, you don't _have_ to, I just thought, to pay you back for coming with me to my appointment—"

"I'd love to, Rachel." Quinn was as surprised as Rachel by her response. "But I'll pay for my share."

"No, Quinn, I _insist._" Quinn sighed again. They would be there all day if they were going to do this.

"We'll talk about it in the car."

Twenty minutes later, Rachel and Quinn were sitting next to each other in a restaurant. Rachel was trying to do anything to keep the conversation going, and that included having a conversation with herself. "Do you think this restaurant is good? I myself think it's a little overrated, but I suppose I can see the sentimental value in it, since the glee club has been to many a celebration in here. I just think that for a restaurant _named _for breadsticks, the breadsticks themselves aren't that good—"

"Hey, Rachel," Quinn spoke up suddenly. "I don't think there's anything wrong with your nose." Rachel stared at her curiously, at a loss for words. Quinn blushed, and looked down. "I mean, if it counts for anything. Your nose looks…" Quinn studied Rachel's face. There were those deep, soulful brown eyes, digging into her soul. And Quinn had _always _loved Rachel's hair. (Not that she would admit it.) It was such a pretty color, cascading from her head like chocolate silk… And the infamous nose. It wasn't even that big; and truthfully, no matter how hard Quinn stared at Rachel's face, she couldn't imagine Rachel without that nose.Realizing how long she'd been staring, Quinn quickly added, "Your nose isn't that bad."

The waitress finally arrived, breaking the tension between the two. She handed them each a menu, smiling a toothy grin. "Can I help ya'll with anything? This a special occasion, an anniversary maybe?"

Both Quinn and Rachel protested at the same time. The freckled waitress' grin widened. "'S a pity. You two look like a cute couple." She winked over her shoulder as she walked away.

Quinn continued gaping towards the waitress until Rachel cleared her throat. "Quinn, perhaps in honor of this occasion, we should sing a duet in glee together. What do you think?"

Quinn stared at her hands. "I don't know, Rachel. I'm not nearly as good as you, I can't really sing that well—"

Rachel interrupted. "Nonsense, Quinn. You have a pretty voice. It's not as powerful as most, but I like it a lot."

Quinn couldn't hold back her small smile. "Thanks, Rachel." Rachel smiled back, a smile that lit up her whole face and made the entire room seem a little brighter. _This isn't so bad_. Quinn thought.

A song came over the sound system. _I wish I could tie you up in my shoes_…

RQ-SB-RQ-SB

Quinn was now sitting waist-deep in the spitting swimming pool, freezing her ass off and fuming at both Sue and the stupid water. Santana was with Bryan Ryan, training with him. Brittany and Mike _had_ been nearby, trying to encourage Quinn during the lesson, but had left nearly half an hour ago because of the lack of progress. Maybe they were with Santana now. Maybe _Santana_ had managed to do something more than make a few waves within the first _three hours_ of training.

"Q, you can't resist water." Sue repeated for nearly the fortieth time. Even Quinn had been surprised with the coach's newfound patience, but part of her wanted the coach to yell at her. She was sick of the stupid water, and she was sick of Sue's condescending tone.

"Maybe the accident broke my Earthshaper powers," Quinn suggested stubbornly, for the second time that hour.

"No, _you're_ breaking your Earthshaper powers. You can only do this if you listen to me and actually try_._"

"I am trying!" Quinn snapped, trying to get her new floating wheelchair to turn around. She was careening into the corner of the pool.

Sue groaned. "What have I been telling you? _Use your fucking powers!_" Quinn completely ignored her, instead trying to paddle herself away from the edge.

Sue helped her out, using her own powers to pull the chair through the water. "Let's try the waves again."

"We've _tried _the waves. Why can't we just move on?"

"Because we've already tried everything I can teach you. We can either do the waves or the underwater exercise. Your choice."

Quinn scowled as a response, and Sue took this as an answer. Swinging her arms wildly, Sue sent waves spiraling straight at Quinn. Quinn tried her best to "shape the waves around" her. Whatever the hell _that _meant. Mostly she just got knocked violently around the in the water.

Sue stopped the exercise and grimaced at the girl in the water, now looking smaller and sulkier than ever in a brand-new waterproof Earthshaper suit. Santana and Brittany had gotten similar ones, each suited to each girl's particular element. "Stop _resisting _it. You're too stubborn for you own good, Q."

"Well what the hell am I supposed to do?"

"Work with the water. Don't think of it as trying to control the water, you're asking it to follow your commands."

Quinn continued to glare at the coach. "Is there a difference?"

Sue rubbed her temple. "Have you ever heard the phrase, 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em?' Try that."

Quinn concentrated with all her might at the waves crashing towards her. She was _not_ going to let those waves get between her and Rachel. She forced herself towards them with all her might. _You do _not _control me. I am _not _weak._

The coach turned away from the girl, hiding her worry. What were they supposed to do if Quinn wouldn't train? She shook her head silently, and turned back towards her student. "Let's work with healing a little again."

SB-RQ-SB-RQ

The girls were all in their beds, asleep early. It didn't take much to get them to go do bed, they were all tired from training. Not to mention that they would have to wake early tomorrow to begin their quest.

Bryan Ryan and Sue were talking quietly in the kitchen, trying to hide their concern from each other, and failing. Was this a suicide mission?

"How did Santana do?"

"Good. She took to the element quickly, but she lacks control. I wish I had more time to teach her, but she'll be fine." His voice betrayed his doubt.

"Q barely made any progress in anything but healing—"

Bryan interrupted. "That's a good skill to have." He said hopefully.

"Not when she can barely make a wave." Sue paused. "Would it be better to have her stay here and train longer while the other two go?"

"She'll never do it. And I doubt the other two will be willing to wait either, we barely have any time as it is. And they know it."

Sue sighed. "All we can do now is hope. It's up to them."

**Two updates within a short amount of time. I'm on fire! **

**But pretty please with sugar on top review? I have over 50 people on story alerts, not to mention anons. Come on and talk to me, I don't bite! The time it takes me to update (C'mon guys! They're finally on their mission! You'll see more action, more drama! And the face of the bad guy will FINALLY be revealed next chapter! Hint hint, it's someone you know! And Rachel's discovering her powers! Who's excited to see that?) will depend on how many reviews I get!**


	6. Chapter 6

** Santittany was ALWAYS on—Thanks so much for being my first Chapter 5 reviewer! And I loved what you said about the I feel pretty duet, I FELT pretty ingenious when I came up with that idea. **puffs up chest** And I LITERALLY posted this today for you! Because you reviewed minutes after I posted the last chapter, and I FELT so happy. And then I finished the chapter earlier than I expected, and I was going to wait…but then I remembered how sweet your review was (I love when reviewers really think about what they're going to say) and so I posted today. Am I the best ever, or what? (Plus I also love your username!) And for your Brittana comment: Stand strong, brothers and sisters! (Ps, I LOVE Colorado! It's one of eight states I've been to, WOOO!)**

** Sweetarts151—You seem like a repeat reviewer, am I right? Thanks for coming back, veteran! I always love it when people take the time to review more than once. And thanks for your sweet comment about the personalities thing. I worked pretty hard to figure out who I wanted with what element and how that element would effect them and whatnot, so it's nice that you noticed. Thanks for reviewing!**

** Alex sweets—Haha YES there will be Finn bashing. (And your review about smiling when I smiled made me smile. Does that make any sense?) Although he is not the worst of the worst in this story. (He's more just a douche, just like he is in the show!) And I'm glad you liked Mike! I was kind of nervous about how people would respond to me just throwing a glee clubber in there, and you're really the only person who commented on it. So I'll count that as a success! Thanks for being another repeat reviewer! WOOO**

** TessaDK—Is this ANOTHER repeat reviewer I see? You guys are on the ball today! And thanks for all your comments, I can tell that you actually thought about the story and everything, and that's always great to see. It means I'm doing this right! (And that you're doing this right too.) And you're right, I really didn't explain the whole healing-thing that well. Think of it like our doctors. They can practically work MIRACLES, but they can't do everything, and Quinn's legs are pretty much beyond prepare. (or are they?) And about the whole silver-trails thing….(thanks for remembering that by the way! Obviously you're a serious reader!) that will be revealed SOON…somewhat. Thanks for reviewing, it means so much to me!**

** Lion Agron—Haha, here you go! I LOVE your username by the way! And thanks so much for taking the time to leave your sweet review, it means so much to me. **

Santana was awake most of the night, thinking and plotting. Because no matter how hard her shell was, Santana _really_ cared about those she loved. And no matter what, she was not going to let them get hurt. (And so you can imagine how she felt about stampeding two of her favorite people into the "Fang Woods.") Thoughts churned through her mind, like how much food they needed to bring, where they needed to go to get Rachel in the quickest way possible, and above all, how to avoid getting fried before they got there. (Santana altogether ignored the drastic measure of what would happen _when _they got there.)

So by the time Sue finally marched in to wake them up, substantially more somber than the day before, Santana already had a plan in mind. Her priorities were in order, and despite the slight guilt of betrayal foaming in her stomach, she knew that she'd made the right choice.

When she looked at Quinn, scowling as usual, refusing to meet anyone's eyes, Santana couldn't help but think about Quinn and the creepy-looking Healing Sanctuary. Quinn had been ready to abandon the entire mission, including Berry, just for some weird fountain thing that she'd seen out of book. And although Quinn hadn't really _done _anything about it, the sense of abandonment was just as real in Santana's chest.

And then there was Rachel, a girl that Santana knew, but didn't _really _know. (Though her gay-dar went off like _crazy _whenever she had a conversation with her.) Yeah, it sucked that she'd gotten gay-napped, and of course Santana was going to do whatever she could to get her back. But compared to…

Santana sucked in a breath, looking across the room to her blue-eyed babe, who was still waking up. _Brittany. _She looked at Brittany's ice blue eyes, holding so much happiness, but with a wisdom that Santana hadn't been able to explain until the whole Earthshaper-thing was revealed. That was how Santana had first known that she loved Brittany, from those _eyes. _Santana could always tell immediately how Brittany was feeling, without any words (real or wind-variety) being said. The eyes sparkled and lit up like little dancing flames when she was happy; they froze over and dulled when she was sad. Santana loved everything about Brittany (her long legs, her golden hair, her sunny smile…) but her favorite would _always _be Brittany's eyes. No matter how much she liked Rachel or…whatever it was she felt about Quinn, Brittany would _always _come first. And that included now.

The brunette wheeled Quinn's chair out of the pantry, feeling a slight twinge in her chest. Brittany had always been the priority, but admitting it made it seem more final. If it came to it, could she really desert Quinn or Rachel?

Santana's held her head higher, and gripped the handles of the wheelchair harder. No. It would _not _come to that. She was going to protect everyone. She knew it was possible…somehow.

They gathered in the main room of the Headquarters. The computers looked surprisingly empty without Mike, Santana noticed. (Despite his friendship with Brittany, Santana actually liked the guy.) Bryan Ryan looked just as tired as Santana felt, leaning against the kitchen counter. _He'd_ even grown on her; he was a surprisingly good fire trainer. Sue joined the group, hauling in a few backpacks.

"Brittany and I packed some stuff for you guys yesterday…" Sue said gruffly, staring at her feet. Apparently the tense atmosphere was even getting to the tough coach. As if she sensed this too, Sue added quickly, "We figured you sloppy babies couldn't handle it." Santana cracked a smile. She was surprised by how much she would miss Coach Sue's guidance when they left.

"I gave Brittany the air Earthshaper book, too." Bryan Ryan addressed Sue. "I assumed you would agree that she would find more use for it than we would." Sue nodded, her grimace not ceasing.

Brittany sniffled, Quinn's frown deepened, and the trainers were even looking deflated. Santana grumbled to herself; obviously it was up to _her _to handle the hard stuff. "We'd better get going," she said out loud, doing her best to keep her voice steady. "We've got a long way to go." Sue nodded, and Bryan busied himself with gathering backpacks in his arms. Quinn rolled towards the exit, and Santana gave herself a few seconds to feel scared while everyone else was distracted.

An arm delicately draped itself over Santana's shoulder, and she felt energized almost immediately. She looked up into Brittany's blue eyes, and heard the calming words as clearly as if Brittany had spoken them out loud. _We can get through this, Santana. I pinky-promise. _A newfound drive coursed through Santana's veins; she _needed _to keep going, for Brittany.

Outside, they clambered quickly into the black car the three girls had arrived in, trying to avoid being seen by any of the neighbors. (They _were_ still technically missing.) Santana looked fondly back towards the ugly little house. She noticed how different the atmosphere was in the car this time. To think, just two days ago she'd just found out about her Earthshaper powers in this very car. During the drive, Bryan Ryan went over the maps with Santana again; Sue tried a few more last-minute attempts to get Quinn's Earthshaper powers working.

They pulled up suddenly in a field, completely surrounded by similar fields. Wherever the hell they were, Santana was certain that this was the destination just by the looks of finality on Sue and Mr. Ryan's faces. She swallowed and gripped Brittany's hand. This was it. They were on their own.

But Sue and Bryan Ryan didn't exit the car, and when Santana reached for the door handle, Bryan shook his head. What was that about? A part of her almost wished they were going to shout "JUST KIDDING" or something, but the better part of her _knew _this was real.

Quinn was the first to break the silence. "Well? Are we here?"

Bryan shook his head, then changed his mind and nodded instead. "Well—sort of. We're at one of the entrances to the Earthshaper world. After we're done with our" — he exchanged a look with Sue—"_discussion_, we'll send you there."

Sue took this as her cue, and began to speak. "Skippy and I agreed that it's best you know what you're up against. Don't go scared on me, but you might be a little surprised." Despite Sue's words, Santana _was _scared. But she knew that no matter what, she had to face this. Squeezing her girlfriend's hand, she prepared herself.

Sue glanced over all of the girls' faces, and then said, "Vacuum's kidnapper is…"

SB-RQ-SB-RQ

Rachel had been experimenting with the cracks in her floor, and she had to say—either something _really _weird had happened to her, or somebody was using her as some sick science experiment. Because—and _don't _call her crazy—it was almost like she could _control _the little plants growing out of the cracks. Weird, right?

Somehow, whenever she was really hungry or thirsty, all she needed to do was concentrate really hard on (and sometimes even talk to) the soil that was hidden deep, deep down in the ground. Rachel managed to connect with that soil, no matter how far away it was, and persuade it to bring her that little bit of green hope. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep her alive. (Or maybe she was just slowly starving to death, and whatever was happening to her was due to wild hallucinations.)

Besides fantasizing over this odd new talent, Rachel spent her time looking for ways to escape. Testing for weak spots in the wall, checking the ever-locked door handle-it didn't matter how many times she'd done something, it was still better than doing _nothing. _It helped keep her mind off everything else.

Like how long had she been there? It was hard to tell in the always-dark room, not to mention that she had no idea how long she'd been there while she was unconscious. Surely her dads had started looking for her by now? (And what about Quinn, was _she_ worried?)

Rachel visualized her rescue any time she started to panic—she imagined the police arriving, Mr. Schue getting put in handcuffs, (hopefully they'd find a new show choir director before Nationals, she would _hate _to get disqualified for such an unfair measure) and Rachel reuniting with her loved ones. Her dads were always at the front of the line, and Finn was next. He'd _have _to be, he was still her fiancée after all. Next was Quinn, smiling a relieved smile. Maybe she'd forget about whatever Rachel had done to make her angry in light of the kidnapping. In the dream, Quinn was always wearing the yellow-green color of early spring, a color that made those pretty eyes pop. Her hair was pulled back to show off her face, in a messy way, though, of course. Rachel _had _been missing, after all. Quinn couldn't be wasting time with her _hair_ of all things while Rachel was gone. Mercedes and Kurt were near the front too, their eyes shining with pride for their brave best friend. Santana was there too, surprisingly, next to a giddy Brittany. And _then_ there was Barbra Streisand and President Obama with Rachel's Nobel Prize for bravery in light of tragic events….

It wasn't until after at _least_ a few days in the dark room that Rachel's captor was revealed. She had been experimenting with the plants that grew out of the cracks in the concrete. Suddenly the metal door burst open with a great deal of force. Rachel looked up in alarm, her arm frozen above one of the thicker splits in the floor. Mr. Schuester loomed over her in the doorframe, his eyes still bloodshot like they had been the last time she'd seen him. Her heart pounded in her chest, but she mustered enough courage to stand up and clench her fists. She would fight tooth and nail this time if she needed to, but she was _not _going to bested by this man again…

They both stood, staring at each other for quite some time. Rachel's heart never stopped racing, and her eyes never moved from Schue's familiar frame. The man looked different than usual—his body was swaying as if he'd been battling a cold. His expression looked distant, his arms splayed awkwardly at his sides as if he was sleepwalking. Still, Rachel refused to relax. She had no idea what this man was up to.

In one swift motion, he swooped. Rachel froze up as he tore towards her, and as much as she tried to resist, he had her arms twisted behind her back within a few seconds. She tried to resist and tear away, but his grip tightened until she was in pain, and then whatever courage she had had before left her. Tears prickled her eyes as a fresh wave of hopelessness took over.

Schuester led her from the room like a policeman leads a criminal, utter contempt spreading from his tight fists onto her skin, hot with pain. It looked like he really cared nothing for her safety. Whatever it was he wanted from her, it wasn't good.

Rachel was too scared to take much notice in the long hallway they walked through, but the door at the other end caught her attention. Unlike the door to her room, it was an ordinary door like you might see in someone's house, wooden and painted a clean shade of white. She didn't dare hope it might lead to a familiar place, and her suspicious were proved correct when they descended it.

The room they entered was fairly plain. It was dark, like Rachel's room, but artificial light filled enough of it for her to look around. A few dark armchairs leaned against various walls, and a fire crackled in the fireplace, the soft sound filling the quiet room. There were a few more doors, but Rachel couldn't have approached them if she wanted to; Mr. Schue still held her tightly.

As if suddenly making a decision, Mr. Schuester wordlessly led her over to one of the armchairs and forced her into it. Instead of sitting down, the teacher stood right next to her chair like a prison guard. She sat down hard, relieved when he finally let go of her arms. Her sudden relief didn't last long.

From one of the unknown doors came a new person, this time a blonde woman that looked strangely familiar, though Rachel couldn't place her. As she approached the two, realization came crashing down on Rachel. _But how…what? Who…? _A million questions filled Rachel's mind, none of them complete.

"Hello, Rachel." The woman smirked, setting herself down delicately in the chair nearest Rachel.

"But—" Rachel began, then forced herself to slow down. She took a deep breath, then began again. "Holly Holliday?"

The woman smiled, and the sight made Rachel's stomach twist. "That's the name you know me by, yes." She confirmed.

"What's your real name?"

Holly's smile only got bigger, as if Rachel's question was funny. "Nice try. Usually my victim's attempts are a _little _more sneaky, but of course I'm flattered that you tried." Rachel's face must have betrayed her confusion, because Holly continued with, "It's a well-known fact that the only way to kill me is by saying my name." She leaned in close, so close that Rachel could feel her cold breath on her cheek. "So don't even _think _about trying anything." Rachel couldn't stop herself from trembling.

Holly's eyes flickered to Mr. Schue, and without any words being exchanged, he walked over and sat in his own chair. The exchange was so brief, but seemed so odd… "You're controlling him." Rachel realized.

Holly looked towards the fireplace as she answered, as if the question bored her. "Yes. I've gotten quite good at mind manipulation, but this mind was _particularly _easy to take over." She looked back in Rachel's direction. "Reminded me of the days when I was just learning to puppeteer _rats_." She spat.

Rachel looked at her hands, and the conversation stopped. Holly—or whatever her name was-was letting Rachel lead the conversation. _Why? _Rachel snuck a look back at her captor. Holly was looking right at her, smiling her creepy smile. Rachel looked back towards the floor. It seemed like Holly just wanted to intimidate her. But if Rachel had something that Holly wanted, why didn't Holly just control her like she controlled Mr. Schue? No matter how much she tried to wrap her head around it, Rachel only felt more lost.

She forced herself to address Holly again. "Why did you come to my school…_pretending _to be a woman named Holly Holliday?"

The woman looked pleasantly surprised that Rachel had finally chosen to talk to her. "Well, you're more cooperative than most of my victims. This should be fun," Her eyes sparkled maliciously. "I came for _you._" She paused, and then added as an afterthought, "and for some other girls. But I needed _you _the most, and so you were the first I went for." She studied Rachel like a lion would its prey. Rachel's skin prickled, but she didn't look away. "The others might come later if I need them." Holly finished.

"Who are the others?"

"You don't _know_?" Holly's eyes widened in surprise, and she cackled like Rachel had said a joke. "Well, Sue Sylvester has certainly lost her touch. I would've thought you would at least _know _by now." Her eyes glittered with delight, and she clasped her hands together. "I suppose no harm can come from me telling you now. You know Quinn?" Rachel nodded eagerly without thinking about it. "Yes, you do, don't you? And what about Santana? And Brittany?"

"But what about them?"

"Oh, _now_ you've got to be pulling my leg!" Holly exclaimed, grinning widely. "No?" She laughed again. "My, my. And to think I once considered Sue a worthy opponent. I suppose she just proved me wrong."

"About _what_?" What did the cheerleading coach have to do with anything?

"This should be even easier than I expected." Her face darkened, and she leaned in close to Rachel again. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, her expression wild and unreadable. "All you need to know for now is to do _everything _I say. If you don't, I will hurt you and _everything _you care about." Her voice had dropped to a whisper so low that Rachel had to concentrate to understand everything she was saying, but somehow the words were just as threatening. "If you don't," Holly's cold hand stroked the side of Rachel's face, "blood will be spilled. Not yours," The woman's crazy smile flickered back, "yours is _much _to precious, and I need it for now. But what about Santana? Or sweet Brittany? Or Quinn who you know _so well. _I could use some more of you around anyway, and I don't care if we need to—" she paused dramatically, the light from the fire dancing across her face, making her expression look even more bizarre. "_break _some of them first." She exited the room, but not before winking over her shoulder one last time, a wink that made Rachel's blood go cold.

Mr. Schue led her back to her cell, leaving her with more questions than she had had to begin with.

**You might notice there's no flashback in this chapter—mostly because it was long enough already, and I figured I'd just post it. **

**I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but PLEASE review. It means so much to me, and it literally takes TWO SECONDS. Please please please please please?**


	7. Chapter 7

**Nicholee33****—Thank you! Sorry the update took so long this time, but this chapter's pretty long and one of my favorites so far! Enjoy, and thanks for the review.**

**Alex Sweets****—It's a little ironic that you mentioned Shelby…Also you're welcome for the chapter! And haha, I love your prediction…I would love for Quinn to go all serial killer too. Here you go! I really hope you like this chapter! **

**Sarah****—Thank you! I'm so glad you like it. Thanks a lot for the review!**

**BellaDora Soulmates****—Yay another review! Thank you. **

**TessaDK****—Ooh…a bit of what Santana was planning comes into play this chapter. I'm so excited for you to read it! And I'm glad that you commented on Holly Holliday, I love throwing in a twist like that. Thank you so much for your lovely comment.**

**Mamastei—****Thank you so much for your lovely review! I'm glad you enjoyed.**

**SweeTarts151****—Yay! Congratulations for guessing correctly about Schue! And I'm really glad you liked the Holly Holliday twist, I know I took a gamble with it. Thanks so much for reviewing!**

**Santittany was ALWAYS on****—Woah! Thanks for the really long review, I really appreciate it. I love hearing your thoughts. Sorry about your English class! We really need to do something about the educational system if it's keeping you from my story. :/ And I'm SO happy you liked the Santana POV…this chapter is largely from her point of view as well. I know a lot of people might not particularly like this because the focus of this story is technically supposed to be Rachel/Quinn, but I love Brittana a lot too. (As a matter of fact, my next story is Brittana focused…) And I agree! Schue is SUCH a creep. I've never particularly liked him, but I don't HATE him either…so I just made him generally sort of unlikable. And I'm sorry about the Holly Holliday thing, I know that was kind of a risk making her evil. (I actually REALLY liked her, particularly when she brought Brittana together!) But I still wanted a villain that was somewhat familiar to the characters, and I just happened to choose her. It's not personal, I promise! I really hope you continue to read anyway. (And I'm so excited for Di's return!) Thank you SO much for the review. I really hope you keep reading!**

**I am SO sorry for the long wait! The (SPOILER ALERT) attack part near the end of the chapter gave me a lot of trouble, and it took me a lot longer than I expected to finish this chapter. But it's like WAY longer than usual, so I hope that makes up for it!**

"Holly?" Santana scoffed. "She's harmless besides her obvious and somewhat strange obsession of Britt and me. But seriously, who _wouldn't_ be obsessed with us?" Santana looked towards her girlfriend, expecting to see at least a flicker of a smile. Instead,

Brittany was looking even more confused than usual.

"How could she be evil? Her color was _nice_." Britt asked.

"She's powerful at mind manipulation. I'm guessing she tricked you as she tricked countless others." Sue said. Seeing Brittany's fallen face, she added in a rare moment of compassion, "Including me."

Quinn was strangely silent during this exchange. Her mind kept flashing back to _What about for those of us who choose to remain celibate? _And how disgusted she'd felt that she and Rachel were even being _compared _that way. (Quinn had _chosen_ to remain celibate; Rachel had been forced upon it. Who would want to sleep with _her_?) Quinn's chest swelled with guilt at how she used to be. _No wonder he was the one who" really saw her." _

She shook her head slightly, and stared down at her legs.

Santana finally broke the silence and said, "So come with us! Why not? It's your chance to get that weasel back for manipulating you."

Sue shook her head. "I can't."

Bryan added as an explanation, "We consulted other Earthshapers when we first found out that Rachel had been kidnapped. They agreed that it was supposed to be you. Your existence in this town—each of you spiritually connected to one another—we don't think it was an accident. And even if it was a pure coincidence, we don't want to risk it. There's a reason you got the powers from your ancestors while your parents and grandparents didn't. The powers only show themselves in the people that choose to embrace their ancestry. The people that _want_ to be special. We feel that there's a reason that the powers chose to show themselves in you four specifically."

Quinn could definitely understand why Rachel would get these powers. And Brittany didn't necessarily strive to be different, but she was happy with who she was and didn't try to change herself. She could even understand why Santana, power-hungry and ambitious, would get them. But why did she get them? Sure, Quinn was a perfectionist—or she used to be, anyway. But besides that, Quinn _wanted_ to be like everyone else. Her whole life she had striven to be the same as _every other _popular girl in America, skinny and constantly surrounded by friends. Maybe that was the reason her powers weren't working, maybe they had never been there in the first place.

Was that something the Healing Sanctuary could fix too?

These thoughts occupied Quinn's mind as Santana and Sue argued back and forth. By the time Quinn forced the subject out of her mind, Santana had given into defeat. Stupid decision or not, the three girls were on their own.

The girls climbed out of the car, hauling backpacks out with them. The sentimentality of their goodbyes had long worn off, and instead of sadness, all Santana felt was fear. How the _hell _were they supposed to do this? She didn't know if Brittany had managed to conjure up any wind, and she was sure Quinn hadn't done anything useful with water. As hopelessness set it, Santana snapped her fingers desperately, praying that _her _powers hadn't made a disappearance. When a flame crackled up from her fingertips, she breathed a sigh of relief and squeezed Brittany's hand. One step at a time.

Pushing Quinn's wheelchair with a bravery she didn't know she had, Santana approached the appointed place in the field. With one last goodbye, the two adult figures in front of her disappeared as the three girls entered the portal into the Earthshaper world.

RQ-SB-RQ-SB

"So, you're really…?"

"Yeah."

Santana stuck her hands in her pockets and looked at the ground in a rare moment of self-consciousness. Quinn knew it was up to her to make the first move, but didn't even know how to respond. What the hell were you _supposed_ to say when your best friend-who-you-weren't-even-really-friends-with-anymore just came out to you as a lesbian?

The two girls sat in silence. Santana fingered the fringe on her blanket and Quinn sat on the very edge of the bed, feeling uncomfortable and out of place. She was used to feeling in power; in fact, she _liked _having power over the situation. And maybe it wasn't normal to want control constantly, but this was a _hell_ of a time to practice breaking the habit. Because this was one situation where Quinn didn't have any power at all. And she _did not _like it.

Quinn was never one for speaking before she had collected her thoughts and knew her standpoint, but she knew sooner or later the _real _Santana was going to come back. And Quinn was going to get kicked out of the house if she didn't say something soon. "You know, sometimes I think girls are attractive too." She said without even thinking about it. Where had _that_ come from? Santana raised an eyebrow, and more words spewed from Quinn's mouth as she attempted to backtrack. "I mean…everybody's got a little gay in them, right?" That sounded okay until Quinn realized what she might be accusing Santana of. "Not that I don't believe you or anything! Be gay if you want to be…I mean…not that it's a choice or anything…but…." She blushed furiously and finally just went silent. Quinn _never _did this kind of thing. She had spent her whole life working to be perfect, and it wasn't until recently that she realized she could screw up occasionally without the world crashing down. As it was, she was already turning red and desperately trying to turn the conversation around.

She had learned from the best, after all. If the Fabrays were good at anything, it was gaining command and keeping it. Emotions and all other weaknesses were shoved to the side. The first time Santana had come over, Mr. Fabray had immediately interrogated her. _What does your father do? What church do you go to? _It was just after Quinn's transformation from Lucy to Quinn, and she expected to lose her new friend almost immediately. Santana was tough though, and didn't even flinch during some of the harder questions. _It's a good thing too. _Mr. Fabray had said after hearing that Santana had both a mother and a father. _There's a girl about your age nearby—Something Berry. _She _has two fathers, and I worry for that girl. It's just not _healthy. Quinn cringed, thinking about some of the homophobic things her father had said in front of Santana, realizing just how bad that must've felt to a girl struggling with her sexuality.

"I'm sorry about the stuff my dad said," Quinn mumbled. Santana still hadn't said anything. "About—you know. I don't believe any of that, if it makes you feel any better."

Santana snorted. "If I cared what that jackass thought, would you be here right now? No offense, but you gots knocked up _and _went a little Lebanese in the same year."

Quinn rolled her eyes at 'gots' (she'd probably jump for joy when _that_ annoying habit ended) and then raised an eyebrow. "Lebanese?"

"It's a private joke. Remember that date you went on with Berry?"

"What? After her nose appointment? That was _not_ a date."

"Oh, please. Afterwards you sang a duet about how pretty you thought each other were."

Quinn decided to ignore her. "Whatever, Santana. It's the beginning of summer and next year is our senior year. I don't want to begin either by kicking your ass."

Santana cracked a smile. "You know, I really missed you, Fabray. Don't go all crazy-ass again."

"I'll try." The conversation stopped again, but this time it flowed into a more comfortable silence.

"Hey, Santana?" Quinn eventually ventured.

"Yeah?"  
"How did you know…that you're…"

Santana smirked, just a little bit. "When I realized Puckerman was gross and we all deserved way better?"

Quinn scowled at Santana's response and looked at her hands. "Forget it."

Santana groaned. "Seriously, Q? Fine." She sighed. "I knew I was gay when I started falling in love with Brittany. It's not like I didn't guess before, but it was just one of those things where I could ignore it or pretend it wasn't there." She looked away from Quinn and started playing with the fringe again. "Falling in love with Brittany made it real_. _Because then there was a person that made my secret _worth _admitting."

Quinn shrugged nonchalantly. "Thanks, Santana. I just wondered."

Santana leaned back and relaxed into the pillows. "Whatever."

It was a sign of a mutual understanding not to make a big deal out of Santana's sexuality. (And even though Quinn hated to admit it, she knew it was also meant not to mention hers.)

RQ-SB-RQ-SB

Trekking through some God-forsaken forest really brought out the _worst _in some people. And as much as Santana hated to admit it, she was one of them.

Immediately after going through the portal thing or whatever the hell it was, (Santana still didn't get the logistics of the real world vs. Earthshaper world) they immediately found themselves in the middle of a leafy wilderness that Santana had already dubbed "Hell on (Earthshaper) Earth." Because forests were generally you know, _filled with trees_, it was not exactly wheelchair accessible. Even though Bryan Ryan and Mike had decked out Quinn's chair, it still wasn't exactly easily pushing the thing over tree roots and branches.

Santana had spent a good ten minutes trying to figure out how to use the complicated maps before finally leaving the whole shebang to Britt. Hopefully her color tracking thing was still working, because otherwise they were probably getting hopelessly lost.

It was already getting dark, which kind of sucked, because as much as Santana hated maneuvering Quinn's ungrateful ass through God-knows-what, she still didn't want to stop. Within half a minute of arriving, Brittany had proudly announced that she could see wolf colors _all over the place. _At the time, Santana had just brushed off Quinn's concerns on the hope that they might make it out of the forest before nightfall. But now, with every passing minute that hope was becoming less and less likely.

"Water break." Santana announced without leaving any room for argument. Britt was willing to do whatever, and Quinn wasn't in any position to resist. Pushing the wheelchair from the back was hard enough and trying to push from the seat, as Quinn quickly found, was nearly impossible.

Santana snapped her fingers together as Bryan Ryan had taught her, and a spark shot up. She let it die quickly then repeated the exercise.

"I don't think that's going to help when the wolves arrive." Quinn said from her spot next to Brittany.

"Excuse me, but at least _my _powers are working. And no offense, but sitting there and complaining isn't really getting us anywhere either." Santana snapped. Truthfully, Bryan Ryan had already told her that she was ready to work with bigger flames. She still hadn't tried anything bigger than little flickers, mostly because she was scared of losing control. The last time she checked, trees were flammable. (And so were people.) Santana was mostly trying to avoid frying anyone before they could get to Rachel.

"Hey, San! Look what I can do!" Brittany called.

"Yeah, Britt?" Santana asked absentmindedly, still fixated on her fire.

Brittany stood up from her place on the ground and brushed her hands off. "You ready?" She asked excitedly, bouncing up and down in place. As if she couldn't wait a second longer, she began without a response. Jumping up and down in a strange, rhythmic sort of dance, she tossed her hands in the air and soared. Like, _literally _soared. In what might be mistaken for an odd tumbling routine, Britt twisted and spun through the air, her feet inches above the ground. She slowly started gaining speed, rising even higher, until Santana could feel the breeze from Brittany's dance on her face.

"Britt!" Santana called. "Honey, slow down!" If anything, Britt sped up—her figure blended together into a spinning blur and her routine started to lose control. Santana flew up from her seat and ran to the pulsating tornado that was her girlfriend. Without hesitation, she reached towards the tornado and tried to grab onto something to slow it down. Her hand closed around an arm, and the tornado sputtered. It tossed both Santana and Brittany into the air, and for one terrifying moment Santana was freefalling until she crashed straight into the hard ground.

"Ugh…" She groaned into the dirt. Santana sat up slowly, massaging her head. A dull ache throbbed on her skull, but otherwise she was unharmed. "Brittany?"

"Santana!" Brittany squealed with delight. She had landed near Santana, and didn't have any apparent damage. "Did you see that? Did you see me?"

"Are you guys okay?" Quinn called from her chair, yards away from where Santana and Brittany had landed.

"Britt-Britt?" Santana asked.

"That was fun!" Brittany grinned.

"You've got to be more careful." Santana scolded lightly, but she couldn't help but smile back.

"Okay, I will."

_But wasn't that cool what I did? Wasn't it, San?_

SB-RQ-SB-RQ

The novelty of Brittany's powers had worn off, and fear had begun to sink in again. They had pulled through and walked for another few hours, but Santana had finally been forced to admit that they weren't going to make it out of the forest before nightfall. So once she had spotted a particularly tall tree, Santana announced that they would be setting camp for the night.

"Quit the crap, Quinn. We've got to get you up here before the wolves come, and it's not like you can climb yourself. So get on my back and _hold on _dammit." Santana snapped. Quinn had been as stubborn as usual when they had tried to get her up the stupid tree.

"We haven't even _eaten _yet. And I don't want to climb that thing twice." Rebutted Quinn obstinately. Santana's stomach grumbled, and it wasn't until then that she realized that Quinn was right. It wasn't until then that she even realized she was _hungry_. Santana sighed deeply and ran a hand through her hair. She sure hadn't expected this to be easy, but it was already a thousand times harder than she expected.

"And we're not even close to Rachel yet!" She barked into the forest. Brittany and even Quinn, who a moment ago was close to a temper tantrum, looked concerned.

"San? You okay?" Quinn asked warily, one hand on her wheel as if ready to make a run for it. Santana resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It wasn't like she was having amental breakdown or anything.

_I'm sorry, S. I didn't mean to scare you. I won't use my powers again, if that makes you feel better. _The wind whispered in Santana's ear. Tears came to her eyes without warning, and before she could stop them they were already running down her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" Brittany asked. Worry filled her eyes, the colors blurring together and hardening into an icy, almost colorless blue.

Santana didn't even know why she was crying. One second she was fine, the next…she was crying. Santana _never _cried. She had cried only once recently—or well, twice. But both were for _really_ good reasons. The first was when she had called her grandmother to invite her to glee's sectionals. Her own grandmother had hung up on her. The second was the day of Rachel's wedding. One of her best friends had nearly died. And so, well, Santana _rarely _cried.

Yet here she was, big crocodile tears sliding down her cheeks. "I…" She stammered. "Nothing." Santana brushed the tears off her face. "Let's cook something to eat and then get out of here."

There was a river nearby, fairly small but usable. Brittany predicted when a fish was coming, and Santana swiped at the waves fruitlessly. They all knew that the process would've gone by a lot quicker if Quinn's powers were working, but nobody said it out loud. This went on for nearly a half hour, the sky growing darker by the minute. Finally, Santana got impatient enough to start slamming flames into the water, killing any nearby fish and cooking it to a crisp. The fish were black and tasted like dirt, but nobody complained.

"Time to hide." Santana announced as the unofficial leader of the group. Quinn climbed onto Santana's back without any argument, lacing her fingers together around Santana's neck as tightly as she could. Santana grunted as she climbed, just focusing on reaching for one branch after the other. She ignored the pain in her hands, scoured raw by the rough branches, and her aching back. Quinn tried to be helpful during the climb, but there wasn't a lot she could do.

It didn't take long for Santana's arms to go out, and she was forced to retire. She set Quinn down on the nearest branch, and gave herself a moment to rest. "Thanks, S." Quinn mumbled.

"Really?" Santana breathed heavily and rubbed her sore hands. "After Sue's Cheerios practices, that was _nothing_." Quinn forced a smile, but both girls were too anxious to enjoy the moment.

Santana returned to the ground and gathered the supplies as Britt ascended to Quinn. Giving a goodbye to the place where they had spent their evening, Santana scrambled back up the branches. She was surprised by how easy it was now that she didn't have Quinn hanging off her back.

Santana stared down at the forest floor, suddenly feeling a strong wave of homesickness. She longed to be back with her parents, back to living a life of ignorant bliss. She didn't _ask _for any responsibility. She didn't _want _this. But then again, Santana glanced at the faces of the two girls next to her, neither did Brittany or Quinn. And Rachel—how could she forget Rachel? Rachel was alone, and scared, and didn't have a clue what was happening. Rachel got the worse end of the deal, and here Santana was complaining. She sat up a bit straighter. They had to get there for Rachel, she reminded herself. The thought didn't comfort her much, but it was enough to keep her going.

The woods seemed to mirror the girls' mood. During the day, it had seemed just an ordinary forest, filled with trees and nature and whatnot. But at night, an odd glow inhabited the forest in place of darkness. It was probably better than not being able to see at all, but it still unsettled Santana. It was a constant reminder that they were in completely unfamiliar territory, and had no idea of what was to come next. The blue glow settled over everything and cast long, angular shadows in the dirt, only reinforcing the gloomy feel of the night.

The girls sat, and waited. Santana considered suggesting sleep, but quickly decided against it. She doubted anyone would be able to sleep tonight.

Still nothing. Her eyelids grew heavy. Maybe Britt had been wrong, or maybe the wolves didn't go into this part of the woods. Santana had to steady herself more than once on the branch as sleep threatened to overcome her. She yawned. That was another reason it wasn't a good idea to sleep…

_Auuurgh. _A snarl sounded loudly from below, jolting Santana awake. A part of her hoped that she was wrong, but she knew from the moment she heard the noise what it was. Wolves.

Brittany grabbed Santana's hand, her face glowing with fear. Quinn clutched the base of the tree, her eyes frozen on the ground below.

The entire forest went silent.

_Auuurgh_ The sound was heard again, and without warning the tree shook violently, nearly throwing Santana from her perch. She clutched Brittany's hand tightly; she wasn't going to let _anything _happen to Brittany. Santana searched the forest floor for any sign of the wolves, but the trees' shadows made the ground hard to see. The tree shook again, but not as fiercely as before. Even so, Santana's heart pounded in her chest. _The wolves were right under them._

Quinn suddenly made a dive for one of the backpacks. "What are you doing?" Santana hissed. Quinn ignored her, and started fishing through the bag desperately. Santana decided to let her be, and instead returned her attention to the ground. Were they still there?

Quinn found whatever she was looking for, and leaned precariously (particularly for a paraplegic) across the branch to shove something into Santana's hands. "What—" Santana began, but then the item came into focus. _Oh. _It was a flashlight. Santana twisted the light around in her hands, looking frantically for the on switch. The light at last turned on, looking particularly bright in the weird gloom, and Santana aimed it towards the ground.

A flicker of movement caught her eye near the base of the tree, and she searched the ground for any signs of wolves. At last something came into focus, and Santana squinted to see…_oh. _Only one word came to her mind: _Fangs. _

_Fang Woods. _Fang Woods. _Fang Woods. _Santana would've screamed the name if her voice wasn't caught in her throat, strangling her so she couldn't breathe. How could she have been so _stupid? _

The creatures near the base of the tree barely looked anything like regular wolves. First of all, they were _huge_. Their heads were the size of a washing machine and their paws were as big as basketballs. Their fur was ragged and scruffy, matted in places from what Santana hoped was mud. But their most distinguishing feature, which Santana noticed immediately even from high up in the tree, was the fangs: several feet long and sharpened to a point.

The wolves growled and snapped at the flashlight's light and Santana fumbled to switch it off. The damage was already done; the light confirmed the presence of the girls in the tree. The wolves returned to charging at the tree, this time shaking it so hard that one of the backpacks was tossed to the ground. The wolves ceased their mission long enough to investigate the backpack; it was soon torn to shreds. Santana winced at the sound. There went their valuable supplies.

The girls went into action; Santana and Brittany each grabbed one of the remaining backpacks and threw them on as quickly as they could. Santana hesitated about what to do with Quinn because they hadn't planned for _this. _Suddenly the tree gave another violent lurch, and Santana just threw an arm tightly around Quinn's middle. She glanced mournfully at the branch below where they had tied down the wheelchair.

Just as quickly as it had begun, the rocking stopped. Santana dared to hope that the wolves had left. Nothing. She snuck a look down at the ground. Nothing. She whispered, "Do you think they—"

Before she could even think, she was freefalling through the air. "Britt! Quinn!" Santana called, but the roaring of the wind was so loud she couldn't even hear herself. Time seemed to slow down, and she was vaguely aware of the fact that she wasn't holding onto Quinn anymore.

She slammed into the ground, landing on her back. It knocked the wind out of her, and she lay gasping for breath while desperately trying to call out. _Where was Britt…Quinn…fangs…_

A wolf sprang out of nowhere, aiming for her face. Now that it was close, she could see every detail. Its eyes were red and angry, but what scared her was the fact that they were so human in intelligence. She could tell the wolf was not relying on animalistic instinct, but was completely aware of what it was doing. It was almost as if these creatures had once been human…

Santana closed her eyes, prepared to die. She awaited the inevitable strike, waited to feel her throat get torn out…

Nothing. She dared open an eye. The wolf was nowhere in sight. Santana sat up slowly, bracing herself for the assault. _Oh. _What once was the wolf was now a charred mess, surrounded by dying sparks and a fine black dust. Santana whistled softly. She now owed Bryan Ryan her life.

But where was everybody else? The only body nearby was that of the wolf that had been about to attack her. She guessed that any other wolf nearby would've been scared off, but what about Brittany or Quinn?

"Brittany! Quinn!" She yelled.

"_Santana!_" The voice was distant and muffled, but Santana could tell it was filled with panic. The relief she had felt from surviving her attack evaporated.

"Quinn! Brittany!" She screamed.

A pause. "_Santana_!" She took off running, her heart pounding in her chest. _Brittany. _

It didn't take her long to find Brittany, who was surrounded by three wolves. She was desperately trying to defend herself using her wind, but was mostly failing. The wolves would stumble back a few feet during each gust, but it wouldn't deter them from long. Britt just wasn't powerful enough to defend herself against such huge animals.

"Santana!" It was a different call, from another direction. Santana turned around, and was met with a similar sight. Quinn was stranded on the ground, roughly ten wolves slowly approaching the obvious weaker one of the group.

Santana desperately looked between the two girls… "Hurry up," she mumbled. "You can't wait." The choice was obvious, and she made it without thinking. Stumbling in the direction of Brittany, Santana tried to logistically find a way to fry the wolves without hurting Britt. She made a split-second decision and ran in front of Britt, forcing herself to step towards the wolves without thinking first. Closing her eyes, she tried to do what she had done before. _Come on_ she thought furiously. _Come on! _She hadn't even been _thinking _about it before, and now she was failing. A wolf charged towards Brittany, and Santana turned around long enough to see the submission in her girlfriend's eyes as she watched the approaching wolf…

Santana threw herself in front of Brittany just quickly enough to knock her down before the blast. The explosion was so hot that Santana felt numbness instead of pain as the fire danced up her back. Even though she was turned away from the flames, she could still see the explosion in the reflection of Brittany's eyes. Santana hoped Quinn was okay…

The fire finally cleared, thankfully without setting anything else alight. Santana sat up quickly, looking for Quinn. "Quinn!" She called. "Quinn!"

She grabbed Brittany's hand and hauled her up. The two tore across the blackened floor towards where Quinn had last been. Although Santana was thankful to see that the wolves had disappeared, there was no sign of Quinn.

"Santana!" Brittany yelled from behind her. "I found her!"

Quinn was lying on the ground, covered in soot and dirt but otherwise unharmed. She wasn't saying anything.

"Quinn?" Santana asked carefully.

"I'm glad to see how you feel about me!" Quinn snapped.

"What the hell, Quinn?" Santana asked, surprised by Quinn's response. "I just saved your ass!"

"After you saved Brittany's!" Santana glanced at Brittany, who didn't look offended. She looked more concerned about Quinn.

Santana looked back at Quinn. The blonde girl didn't just look angry or annoyed this time. She looked absolutely _furious. _

"Yes, Quinn. I admit it. I saved Brittany first. My _girlfriend. _But you think I just abandoned you?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I think." Quinn probably would've done one of her infamous storm-outs if she hadn't been stranded on the ground. The scene felt a lot like junior year—besides the fact that they were in the middle of the woods and covered in soot from an explosion Santana created.

"Quinn." Santana sighed. It wasn't like she _wanted_ to have to make that decision. "I'm sorry, okay? But it's over. And hopefully, it won't happen again. Now let's go before those fanged things can come back."

Quinn turned away, her trademark scowl on her face. "You don't understand."

Santana threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "You're right, I don't. As a matter of fact, I think you're just being selfish. But please," she spat as her anger got the best of her. "Enlighten us, Quinn."

"I have to get to Rachel!" Quinn yelled. The outburst surprised Santana, who was left speechless. A tear slid down Quinn's cheek, leaving a clean line on her otherwise filthy face. She didn't look angry anymore, just scared and vulnerable. "Please." She whispered. "I have to get to Rachel."

Santana swallowed softly, now feeling guilty for yelling at Quinn. "Okay. I promise we'll get you to her."

Quinn looked almost surprised. "Really?" She asked hopefully.

"I promise."

**Aaaaand another chapter done! Sorry this one took so long, but like I said the wolf attacks took me FOREVER to write. So you guys got an extra-long chapter! Okay, so I have a pretty good idea on how this story's going to go, but if you guys have any suggestions please leave them behind in a review! I'm generally pretty nice, and RARELY bite. Also, there is a CRAPLOAD of foreshadowing in this chapter, but I've hidden it pretty carefully…I would LOVE to hear if anyone picks up on it!**

**Sorry about the lack of Rachel in this chapter, but I wanted to get Fang Woods over with. She'll be coming back in a big way in the next few chapters. **

**PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW.**


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